The Wonderful Takahashi of Oz
by Sukii-Sama
Summary: Shiko Higure, dedicated otaku, had an accident and woke up in the world of InuYasha. How can she get home? Is getting home even possible? Or does the plot need her more? And how can she make sure not to reveal the biggest secret of them all, the ending of the story? SessXOC
1. Because It Always Starts With a Fangirl

S-S: So this is the first chapter, finally (re)finished. Since the plot and details are more developed than the first fail-tasitc version I wrote, and also since I just have a better sense of what I want to do with the characters and the plot, chapters will come out on chunks. I will be re-writing a bunch of chapters all at once, and probably will post five or so at once (most likely on the weekends). So don't expect daily updates, but do expect updates. Again, since I am still unsure about whether to redo this story, I would appreciate it if some of my pre-revival readers warn me if I begin to stray too far from what I did before or where they think I should be going.

With that said, I hope everyone enjoys the first chapter of The Wonderful Takahashi of Oz.

I also don't own InuYasha.

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><p>Shiko Higure had heard a lot of nonsense in her time. In fact, sometimes that nonsense even came from her own mouth. But this… this took the cake. She looked up at her dear, <em>dear <em>friend Lana, and struggled to stop herself from strangling the idiot. Painfully, she repeated in a run-away-while-you-still-can voice, "So you dropped your phone… _in the bay_."

"Yup!" Lana said happily, seeming oblivious to the evil intent that Shiko was radiating.

With a sad and tired sigh, Shiko glanced up at Lana, removing her head from the sanctuary that was her arms, "How, dare I ask?" she inquired in a pained voice, rubbing her temples soothingly.

Lana pondered over this question while poking her sushi of questionable origins with a toothpick – the kind that had pretty colored plastic wrap on top to try and make the toothpick look fancy. After a long pause, she decided upon, "I'm not sure myself."

Saiyu, a normally shy and quiet girl of a mysterious Asian origin who just happened to be sitting across the table crossed her arms in a huff, "That is the most stupid-" Maiyu, her identical twin sister who was even shyer and more quiet finished with, "-thing that we have ever heard."

They had twin moments. Often. The rest of the group had only gotten used to the two after a hastily prevented incident with watermelon and three-year-old mayo. Saiyu glanced at Shiko, "You were the one to originally confront her about this, so how did _you_ know her phone was gone anyways?" she reasoned, using her horrible powers of logic against Shiko.

Deciding that the best way to solve this particular problem was a demonstration, Shiko reached for her phone in her back pocket, "You mean despite the fact that this is the third time this month that Lana has mysteriously lost her phone? And you mean _despite_ the fact that last time we found it, we had to recover it from a strange old man in _Brazil_, of all places?" the twins nodded, and so Shiko held up her phone and dialed Lana's number, "You can hear the water when you dial." she said with forced nonchalant-ness.

And indeed, after the customary two rings, the phone automatically answered and you could hear the sounds of water moving past. Riza, a girl with dark skin and a mane of curly hair that never stayed in place, erupted into a bout of giggles. The rest would have looked at her strangely, if it were not such Riza thing to do. She giggled, laughed, and made dirty jokes, including a very memorable one about two old men and a stack of dishes, and everyone was completely used to it.

Lana grinned and snatched the phone out of Shiko's hand, "Awesome!" she yelled, holding the phone up to the dingy cafeteria ceiling like it was sent by god, "Now I can prank call fishes!" she held up the cell phone to her ear and said in a fake posh voice, "Hello dear sir, do you know why you dislike Fridays so much?"

Riza giggled – again – and glanced at Shiko, adopting the same fake posh accent that Lana had used, she asked, "Shiko, is your refrigerator running?"

"It was, then I broke both its legs." Shiko said in a horrible deadpan.

"Brrrrrr…." Riza said, with an exaggerated shiver, "So_ icy_ Shiko, what happened? Did you take a bath in ice cubes during a blizzard while drinking iced tea, or what?"

Shiko simply chose to munch on her nuttela and banana sandwich and say nothing, simply smiling contentedly. Unfortunately her silence had the wrong effect on Riza entirely. She grinned and leaned over the table to get closer to Shiko than was physically possible without actually moving her butt. "Tell me," she asked with a grin, "is your icy exterior today – and we can all agree that you are rarely this cold – a bi-product of being overly emotional yesterday?"

Shiko chocked on her sandwich, and stuttered to reply in the negative. Maiyu grinned, "Oh yes," she said, while Saiyu finished with, "It most certainly is."

"Ooooohhh! Did you _cry_!?" Lana asked, like it was the most shocking thing in the world. "NO." Shiko said loudly and firmly, trying to put her foot down even though it was under the table and on the floor already.

"Yes." Saiyu said, "She was at our house, and we were watching a," she glanced over at Shiko evilly, "_certain_ anime series, and, well… there was a _certain character death_ and she actually started to cry."

Shiko shot Saiyu a look and replied quickly with, "And your eyes were soaking wet as well. Don't deny it. Maiyu was sobbing quietly in a corner, using up… what was it? _Fifty_ tissue boxes, I believe?" Maiyu's eyes grew teary, like even the thought reduced her to tears.

"Oooohhh!" Lana asked, "Who died? Who! Tell me! I must know!"

Saiyu opened her mouth to reply with a smug smirk. Cutting her off however, Shiko glared her in the eye and muttered maliciously, "Ninth grade. Tuxedo mask. I have records of that phone call."

"Don't make me go back to calling you Carlota," Saiyu countered with a grin. Yes, Shiko Higure had not always been Shiko Higure. Her name had once been Carlota Collier. Ever since she had been exposed to anime, she had been dying to change her name to something that suited her. And so she did. It took a lot of convincing, mind you, and her mother hadn't been too keen on it, but they had set the court date in the end, and that was all that mattered.

Maiyu held up her hands in an attempt at peacekeeping, "If you two are quite finished discharging sexual tension-" but she was cut off by Riza, who suddenly began giggling so loudly that half of the cafeteria paused in what they were doing and stared.

"You two- AHAHAHAHA! – were just so- AHAHAHAHAHA! – HAHA SEX!" Riza spouted, clutching her stomach so hard, and laughing with such seriousness that she fell off the table and started rolling around on the floor, giggling like an idiot. After a few minutes, with her showing no sign of stopping, Shiko grabbed Lana's sushi toothpick and poked Riza in the cheek.

With a sigh, she leaned back and ran her hands through her dark bangs, "Yeah, she'll be like that for a while. Have to wait till she starts choking and turning blue first," she said matter-of-factly.

Lana 'ooohhh'ed and 'aaaaahhhh'ed at the collapsed and pained Riza, who was at that stage of laughter where she was laughing so hard that no sound came out and was currently collapsed into a ball. Shiko took this moment of distraction to snatch her phone back from Lana and delete the calls made to the fish under the bay. If any octopuses wanted revenge, Shiko would be damned if they were going to take it out on her.

The bell that marked the end of lunch rang, resulting in many joyous cheers from the students crammed into the cafeteria that was far too small to have passed any fire safety inspections.

"Well bye~!" Shiko said happily, bolting up from her seat and giving a quick wave to her three friends. She tossed her book back over her shoulder and hurried out of the cafeteria. Fortunately for her, because today was a block schedule – she had classes 1, 3, and 5 – lunch was her last class. And home was only ten minutes and a city bus ride away.

There was Shiko, walking to the bus stop. Let's start at her feet. She was wearing heavy black sneakers, the kind that was practical, but could still pass as very worn converse if pushed to it. Dark boot-cut jeans, nothing special, but she can't stand skinny jeans because they restricted her movement too much. At her waist, she had a long silver chain that connects to her Full Metal Alchemist pocket watch that she got years ago at her very first convention. Maiyu and Saiyu both got the same one as well, but Shiko was the only one who still wore hers, and she always made sure that it had a fresh battery and was on time. Her plain black t-shirt was nothing extraordinary, no slogans or logos, but was pretty loose on her form because she got it on discount at Goodwill. Her book bag was slung over her shoulder. It's a plain canvas brown, but she ironed on a large sticker of the Vampire Knight logo that she found in Japantown. The strap of the bag was decorated with a few pins of anime related matter, all gotten at conventions, and generally done by unprofessional artists. Her bag was bursting a bit at the seams, and she does really need to repair it, but in all likelihood, she will wait until it actually falls apart before she does anything.

Then there are her hands. A person can tell a lot about Shiko from just looking at her hands. Her fingers aren't particularly long or elegant or dainty or any of those romanticized versions that all fairy tale princesses seem to have. Her hands are pretty average, and even a bit scarred up, a few long cuts that healed badly and left a faint marking behind to show that she had been careless with a knife before. Her nails aren't long and manicured, or anything like that. She keeps them cut rather short, if they weren't, she wouldn't be able to form tight fists during her martial art classes. Long nails are impractical as well. But she does paint her nails, and always has a fresh coat of black polish on them. A few years ago, she got her nails painted black for a convention, didn't bother to remove the polish right away, and so the habit stuck. She likes to think that the nail polish makes her nails look longer and daintier. She might be deluding herself there, but she doesn't really care either way.

The rest of her body is thin, not fashion model thin unfortunately, she will always have too much muscle for that, but still thin. Her curves are nothing to brag about, and her figure isn't extraordinary. But as if to make up for the average look that she gives off with the rest of her, all her artsy-ness and creativity seems to have been pushed into her face. She's got an angular face and delicate cheek-bones, but her jaw is always set in a firm line, and her eyes are large, staring people in the eye and not backing down. Her hair is long, tied in a ponytail at the top of her head. Her bangs frame her face and have been purposely cut to resemble something out of a manga book. Her hair used to be a sun-darkened blond, but it's dyed now. Her hair is dark black, shiny and smooth, with one long streak of cobalt blue running from her scalp to the tips of her hair. Her pale blue eyes that are more grey than blue were accented with smoky kohl. Three shiny silver studs travel up her right ear like metallic ants.

She goes to art school, public and free, but with an audition to get in. Her parents didn't want her to pierce or dye anything, but she reasoned that all the art kids were a bit crazy, and a few piercings and some hair dye wasn't anything major. Besides, it was her body and she would have it looked how she wanted.

The city bus arrived, lurching to a stop in front of the school. Shiko waited for the doors to chunk open and hopped on, sliding her clipper-card against the scanner by the door. Like all high-schoolers, and especially like all seniors, Shiko had been dying to get a car. In fact, she really just wanted to learn how to drive so that she could get a motorcycle. She didn't want a Harley Davidson, one of those loud and obnoxious clunky old things. She wanted a sleek Japanese bike, like a _Katana_, or something along those lines. The kind that lets her gently tap the handle and _voom_- 200 mph.

She's taken the same bus for the last four years, but she still has no idea who the driver is, even though the balding Indian man has been driving for at least twice her own life span and has gone through five large and dirty turbans during the time Shiko has known him. She walked to the back of the bus, not sitting down on the dingy plastic seats that are reserved for the elderly and the disabled that frequently occupy the bus. All the seats are filled, whether with a businessman or a nanny with kids. So she remained standing, holding on to the strap that dangled from the bar on the ceiling.

As the bus lurched away from the school, and static-filled Arabian music began to quietly blare through the speakers ahead, Shiko dug through her bag and pulled out her mp3 player. She stuck the earbuds in her ears and turned up the volume on Len Kagamine's Servant of Evil as high as the volume would go, attempting to drown out the roar of the bus and the chatter of the people with good music.

Shiko is, was, and always will be, an otaku. During the summer in between the sixth and seventh grades, Maiyu and Saiyu had invited her over for a sleepover. After a few weird action-adventure movies were tossed into the discarded pile along with a dozen corny romances, Maiyu had retrieved the first few episodes of InuYasha. Having never before been exposed to anime, Shiko was hooked before five minutes had gone by. Once she got home the next day, she was on her computer, typing and then watching. She finished the series as fast as she could, and then read the manga because the anime wasn't complete yet and she couldn't wait to find out what happened. Then she got started on other series, reading and watching and becoming more and more obsessed.

It was like she awoke one day as someone completely different, someone stronger and braver and more like the person she was supposed to be. But no matter how many anime she watched, or how many conventions she went to, her life felt… lacking, somehow, like part of her, a crucially important part, was missing. She hoped that whatever she was missing, she would grow into as time went on.

As the bus approached her stop, she tugged her earpods out of her ears and stuffed her mp3 back into her bag. Her body titled forward as the bus lurched to a clunky and uneven stop. The doors opened and she hurried out, desperately escaping the stuffy and sweltering confinement of the bus and breathing in a large amount of the welcomingly fresh air.

"SHI!"

Shiko sighed. There was only one person who called her that, and she hadn't known that he would be here today. She turned and smiled at the man, "Hey dad!"

Her father. He dressed like a military man, camo cargo pants and black muscle shirts. He even had the buzz cut thing going. But he was like a marshmallow. Shiko just had to poke him and he would become all dad and smiles and love and other such memorably squishy items. Her father's truck was parked by their favorite tiny secluded park that was about half a block away from Shiko's mother's house. It was where they got together to either meet up or do other father-daughter activities. Like self-defense, martial arts, and swordsmanship. Very fun.

Her dad gave her an overly affectionate hug, "Shi, it's so good to see you! I was hoping that we could go to the range to try out your new nine millimeter today!"

"Uh dad…" Shiko tried.

"And since I haven't seen you in so long I was hoping we could do some sparring! I brought your katana!" her dad continued, holding out the weapons in question.

"Dad…"

"And then maybe we could go out to dinner…! We need more father-daughter bonding time!"

"Dad…"

His face fell, "Oh you don't want to? I mean, you probably have friends – well of course you have friends, but I meant –" he sniffled, "My little girl is all grown up, and-"

"Dad," Shiko sighed and ran a hand through her bangs, "I'll need to get another bag."

Her dad smiled, relieved, "Well all right!"

Shiko hesitantly smiled back and yanked her heavy books out of her bag, dropping them with a thump into her father's hands. Then she snagged her gun and her sword, "I'll just be back in less than a minute to grab another bag from Mom's! See ya in a sec!"

She tucked the items away and took a few steps off the grass of the park to the concrete sidewalk, turning and waving to her dad. It _was_ nice to spend time with him, even if it was partly because he would probably burst into tears if his 'little girl' ever stopped wanting to be with him.

"Shi! Be safe, kay?" her dad said in that typical dad-worried tone that no teenager had ever paid attention to.

Shiko stepped out onto the street and smiled at her dad, "I'll be fine! What could happen?"

She was still smiling when the car smashed into her.


	2. Toto, We're Not In 3D Anymore

S-S: My apologies for this chapter taking so long. I had a stack load of art commissions to finish.

I do not own InuYasha.

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><p>There was a flash of pain, searing, burning, horrifying, the kind that makes blood run cold as ice and thoughts scream.<p>

Then, as soon as it had arrived, the pain left. In a flash. It didn't fade, it simply vanished, like with a snap of the fingers. Poof. Gone.

Shiko could see anything, just the darkness. But it wasn't a complete darkness, there were blobs of light that sort of moved when she tried to look at them. Blue light, white light, sort of out-doorsy light. Oh. She was looking at the back of her eyelids. That must mean that she still had eyes. That was a good sign, she supposed.

Without opening her eyes, she tried to think about where she was. Something that felt suspiciously like grass tickled the skin on her bare arms. So she had arms then. Excellent. She wiggled her toes, and upon doing so, discovered that she was still in possession of those as well. She ran her tongue over the back of her teeth quickly to make sure that her teeth hadn't been knocked out. Nope, those were all still there. Her fingers felt a bit tingly, so she had fingers as well. There was something in her hand, she realized, something smooth, wooden… her sword was still there? Strange. If she had been hit by that car, she would have expected that to go flying out of her hand…

Hold on.

If she had been hit by a car, and all she was feeling was a slight headache – as opposed to crushed bones, ruptured organs, and splattered brains – , what the hell had happened?

Oh no oh no oh no.

She was dead, wasn't she? She had died and gone to heaven- or hell, she honestly had no idea what the powers that be would think about her.

Well. Time to open her eyes.

Gingerly, and with the full expectation to see fire and brimstone or bright pearly gates, she cracked open her eyes, but just a crack.

A pale, grey-blue light steamed in, all the way to her temples. That wasn't particularly heavenly, she thought. Reaching a hand up to her head, she rubbed her eyes and sat up.

And then she opened her eyes all the way.

She was looking at a sky. A beautiful, blue sky. A slightly cloudy, chance of rain later, sky.

Well, was that heaven?

No, it couldn't be.

Those clouds looked… odd.

She held up a hand and made some noise of surprise that was almost a scream but got lost along the way. It sounded a bit like 'eep!'

Her hand was all there. No lost fingers or added fur or talons or hideously disfiguring scars. Just her hand, the way it had always been. Even the black nailpolish was there, shine and all.

But it was animated.

Her hand was animated.

So was the sky. And her legs. And what she could see of her torso. And the grass that she was sitting on. And the trees in the distance. And-

Well, she was just going to go out on a limb here, but at a guess, she would say that the whole world was animated. So either someone had slipped something in her drink, or… or what?

Where _was_ she anyways? There wasn't any where like this near her home, animated or not. And it had been quite sunny, not cloudy at all just a moment ago.

Was she… dead?

She would say that was impossible, seeing as how she was still functioning, breathing, heart beating. But seeing as the whole world being animated had been impossible naught five minutes ago and here she was, standing in an anime world, looking animated, that whole 'impossible' train of thought simply didn't apply. So if she was dead, then was this heaven? Why would heaven be animated? Yes, she would be the first to say that anime was kinda heavenly in its own way, it just didn't make sense.

Wasn't heaven all pearly gates and singing angels and stupid fat naked babies with wings and harps? Where was the old man with a beard who would tell her that she had been a very bad girl and needed to go to hell? "Standards must have really dropped, huh?" she muttered out loud to herself, trying to relieve some of her stress.

She looked all around. As far as she could see, was grass, this open field. Beyond the green fields was a large forest of dark trees, and farther beyond that, mountains that scraped the sky, trailing clouds of snow and mist in their wake. There wasn't anything particularly biblical about this place, or indeed anything particularly particular to_ any_ religion that she had ever heard of.

So then where was she? It was like she had been sucked into a computer. Describing what it was like to be animated was pointless. Everything looked two dimensional, flat, like on a computer screen, until it moved or turned and then she realized it wasn't.

Right. So she was in an anime world.

Well, that wasn't something that happened every day. She felt woozy, like maybe she was going to faint. But she gritted her teeth, because in a world ruled by Murphy's law, feinting in the middle of nowhere with nobody around was the last possible thing anyone wanted to do. And coincidentally, it was likely to be the last thing anyone would do as well.

"Okay Shiko, pull yourself together!" she yelled at herself. She had to focus, stay strong, keep her head. Heads were hard to find again once you lost them. First thing first. She had to find out where she was, when she was, what universe she was in.

She bit her lip and looked around. There was forest in all directions, no landmarks. Taller mountains to the left. Oh, there! To the left! A small chimney of smoke curled from behind the trees. It wasn't too far off either, pretty close actually. It rolled up into the sky in the strangest way. Her mind told her that it was painted, not real, simply an animation, but it looked so real, moved like real smoke. Like it was pretending it was real smoke.

Her sword was still in her hand, and she was glad that she had it. Her gun must still be in her messenger bag, and that was a relief. She didn't want to be unarmed in this. She tucked her sword into her belt and tied it into place. That done, she squared her shoulders, clenched her fists, and shrugged her bag higher onto her shoulders before she set off at a fast pace towards the smoke.

The grass acted like real grass, crunching beneath her feet. The forest even smelled like a real forest, piney fresh. Maybe there were some people camping or something. That was the only reason that Shiko could think of that would explain people being so far out into the wilderness. She was a city girl, and there wasn't much options for camping near home, although there were the Sierra Nevada mountains that weren't all that far away, and the central valley was apparently pretty nice. She had been to Yosemite once, and that had been okay for camping. Maybe she had ended up there. The only other place that she had ever been to that looked like this was Japan, when she had visited there one summer and gone up into the mountains for a day.

Campers or just vacationers, she hoped that they had a car or something so that she could get a ride to a city

And then she stepped out from behind a tree and her jaw hung open wide. "Well… maybe not a car then," she managed to mutter.

She was standing on the very edge of what looked like a feudal village. Huts with wooden slats for wall, thatched roofs, a large stone-wringed campfire in the center of a road. She said village, that was pretty lenient. There were only a few houses, few and far between. To her right was a mountain slope, where rice paddies had been cut into the rock, leaving those steps for farming. Stables with horses, chickens, animals that her city life had never seemed to include.

And the people.

Oh the people. Dark hair, dark eyes, dressed in ragged kimono and no shoes. And they wore topknots, all the men wore topknots. The people moved about the village in that humdrum of daily life, heads down and ignoring the world, carrying large bundles and only focused on their work.

That is, until Shiko stepped onto the dirt road.

The man nearest to her dropped a bundle of kindling, the wood spilling onto the ground. He held a look of surprise, shock, and strangely enough, fear. He stepped backwards from her, like he was scared that she would turn him into a toad like in fairytales.

Shiko held up a hand, "Please!" she begged, "I'm just lost, if you could help me please , that would be great!"

He opened his mouth, staring at her… and said something in Japanese.

Well shit. If the kimono's hadn't given it away, this certainly would. Shiko's mind switched to the different dialogue, like changing channels on a remote, "I'm lost," she said in Japanese, "Please. Help me." It was rusty, she hadn't spoken it in a while, but a few more sentences and she would have the fluency back.

The man just gave her this look, like she was evil incarnate, and yelled, "DEMON!" Shiko's stomach plummeted like a brick as the man ran away faster than if the devil was on his heels. He kept screaming 'demon!' as he ran off.

Shiko's hand flew to her ponytail. The black hair. With the blue dye. The sword. The strange clothes.

"Fuck." She swore, returning to English. Of course they would think she was some sort of… well, she hadn't been thinking demon, but it made sense.

And at the end of the road, the man was coming back. With others. And with spears, pitchforks, and sharp metal things that she really didn't want to think about.

Shiko turned on her heels and _ran_.

The cries and yells of the villagers were still behind her, trying to catch up to her. She felt as though she couldn't run fast enough, but she just kept going. Her bag bounced and banged against her hip and she held a hand to her sword to steady it as she leapt over tree roots and ducked under large branches.

Thin branches tried to grab her arms and cut at her cheeks, but she could still hear the cries at her back. She risked a glance over her shoulder and could see them, far behind yes, but moving. Her heart pounded in her ears, blood rushing through her veins as that adrenaline really began to kick in. she doubled – no, tripled her pace through the forest.

She felt like a frightened rabbit, about to be cornered and slaughtered. How was she going to get out of this?! Stop being the frightened rabbit. Use her brains, that's what they were there for. Shiko quickly glanced around and spotted a very tall tree with particularly heavy foliage.

Tree-climbing had never been her forte, but her dad had made her do a bit of everything, so it wasn't like she _couldn't_. She grabbed a long hanging branch and used her momentum to carry her legs past the branch and swing herself up. Reaching up, her hand found a branch and latched on, her sweaty palms digging into the bark. She pulled herself towards the branch, stretching her leg up to push on another branch. In that way, like a spider, she scrambled up the tree.

When her head burst through a clump of waxy green leaves and the forest floor was far beneath her and the branches were thinning, she paused, drawing her legs up to her chest and leaning over a branch, peering through the leaves. And not a second too soon, it seemed. Beneath her, the villagers began to run off into the distance, to wherever it was they thought she was.

Sighing deeply, Shiko leaned back against the truck of the tree and allowed herself to relax. The adrenaline slowly faded from her system, leaving her feeling tired, more tired than she had in a while. Today was not her day, was it?

The shouts and yells and noises of the villagers faded into the background, and then they disappeared all together. Still, Shiko waited. Partly because she knew better than to come down right away, and partly because she simply needed a moment of rest.

She reached into her bag that had miraculously survived the trip up the tree and rooted around inside. There was her cell phone, wallet – no good here –, a box of pocky that she had got the other day, and an apple and a candy bar. She pulled out the apple, shined it up a bit on her shirt and bit in.

Crisp and juicy. Delicious. She polished it off quickly and tucked the core into a bend in the tree, whipping the juice off on her pants. Now what was she to do?

She would have to be careful. Of all the anime to wander into, she had to get the one in feudal Japan, didn't she? Where her hair would stand out for miles around, even if she was able to do something about her strange clothing. Gun and sword, yes, but she was not about to shot people just for a mistake. How long would she be running for? What would she, _could _she do?

For the first time in a very long number of years, she had the sudden urge to curl up into a ball and cry. She was stranded in the wilderness, she couldn't try and make contact with people for fear of being hunted, and she was in a world that she had never known, and things were animated. Oh, and she would soon run out of food. And there were demons. Freaking, _demons_. Well wasn't that… _wizard_.

"What am I supposed to do?" she asked out loud. The words echoed quietly off her surroundings, like the forest had better things to do than repeat her thoughts.

Feeling odd, and perhaps a bit empty, she climbed down from her perch in the tree, landing as lightly as she could on her toes. She glanced around in all directions, trying to decide where to go. Well, the direction the village was in was o-u-t out. She looked up, past the tree line. Best to head towards those tall mountains. Even if she didn't find anything, the height would let her look around and see where she was.

This time, she tried very hard to make as little noise as possible. Who knew what people were lurking here, on some mental demon hunt? Every step she took, she rolled the balls of her feet when she stepped, picking up her foot again as lightly as possible. She kept glancing at the ground, making sure to avoid twigs or dry leaves, anything that might make noise.

The forest was silent around her, her own breathing seeming louder than she could ever have possibly imagined. San Francisco, her beloved home. Who would have thought that she would miss the loud sounds and noises of the city so much. But it was true. Her home, loud, noisy, and smelly thought it may have been, at least had had the grace to be familiar and welcoming. Camping and hiking in the wildlife parks and natural reserves simply didn't compare to this. There, there were always ranger stations in case you got lost, and there were probably other hikers just a bit farther down your trail, people camping just a little ways away from your tent. This was solitude.

For the first time in a long while, she felt completely alone. Oh there had been the emotional hide in her room alone, and the parents left on business trip and empty house alone. But this was different. She had… she really had no way of getting home. No way to tell her dad, who must be panicking, that she was alright.

She didn't even know if she herself was properly alive or not.

What was she going to do?

And then, with all the creaks and booms that should have accompanied it, a giant snake crashed through the trees.

Oh yes. Today was definitely not her day.


	3. Welcome to The Animeverse

S-S: I don't own InuYasha. And sorry about the long delay, I had to study for my finals. Ughh...

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><p>Shiko stood frozen, unable to even blink as the huge snake charged towards her. The snake was massive, impossible to describe or even to compare it to a normal snake. That being said, it wasn't the size of a building, although it was the most terrifying thing that Shiko had ever seen. Large stripes of red and black painted its body, its bright yellow eyes terrifying slits.<p>

But the way it writhed and coiled chaotically was the most terrifying thing. Half of its face was disfigured, boiled, like it had been splashed with acid. Its jaw opened wide and it screamed in pain and anger. It didn't look like it could see properly, but that fact didn't seem to matter to it. Its eyes had locked on to Shiko like a target and it reared its head back, as if to strike, its jaw hanging open, foot long fangs dripping with noxious poison.

Its roar and screams were lost on Shiko. She could hear the horrible noises in the background, could see the pain that it was in. But the only sound that she could hear was her own heartbeat, loud and booming into her ears, like a vicious man pounding away at a set of drums.

Like a panther, its head slammed forward, intending to catch Shiko between its jaws. If she didn't move, she would die.

Movement returned to her limbs and she rolled to the side just in time. The snake's enormous head missed her by a fraction of an inch, its jaw smashing through the nearby trees. Poison dripped from its fangs, turning the grass to rotten brown wherever the drops landed.

Shiko regained her footing, standing right next to its head. It was terrifying, being this close to something so huge and massive and so utterly out of her element.

Then its bright yellow slit of an eye swirled around and it noticed her, realized that she was not eaten, was still alive and ready to kill. There was no more time for thinking. Shiko's hand automatically ghosted to the handle of her sword.

What was it her father had always said?

As she swiftly drew her blade, she slammed her eyes shut and whispered, "Use your head, cut off theirs." She brought the blade down.

Metal sliced through flesh like butter. Blood spurted from the severed head, the arteries bleeding black instead of red. Shiko felt like gagging as she stumbled backwards, her blade handing loosely in the palm of her hand. That was disgusting. She never wanted to do anything like that ever again.

The flesh of the dead snake began to disintegrate, like dust into the wind. She should have been paying attention to how other worldly that was, or how cool it looked, but all she was thinking was that she was glad she didn't have to be covered in its blood. As the flesh around its eye vanished, Shiko noticed something odd about the snake.

The right side of its face had been distorted, messed-up, like it had been given steroids. The snake had even looked and sounded pained by this. A few second ago, in the rush-now of adrenaline and fighting, Shiko hadn't noticed it and just filed it under her 'to be considered later' pile. But now, it was very important. The eye remained longest, staying whole and there even after the rest of the snake had turned to dust. Then the eye melted, the flesh acting like plastic to a flame, flaking off of something.

Something small.

Something sharp.

Something that glistened.

Something pinky-purple, stained with inky black.

A shard of a jewel. Oh, but not just any jewel. Shiko stared at it, unable to believe it. For she had seen that jewel many times, knew what it did, knew what it was, knew the sight of it like she knew the back of her hand. Shikon-no-tama.

She stooped down, staring at it incredulously. Was it safe? Could she touch it? It wasn't like… evil right no, was it? Her hand reached out without her mind thinking and she grimaced as her fingers brushed against the melted eye of the snake. Slowly, because if she moved too fast the image could vanish, she touched the shard of the jewel and picked it up. It was smooth and cool, unrealistically heavy in her palm, its weight far more than what she would have guessed at first glance, far heavier than the fake plastic things from her world.

Her world.

She wasn't in her world any more, and this world was so very different. This jewel, for starters. And if there was this jewel, then that meant… "Hello world of InuYasha…" Shiko whispered, a smile ghosting its way onto her lips.

Like a light turned on, like water stilled, a path became beautifully, blindingly clear to her. If she had the jewel, then she was lit up on a spiritual map. Kagome – there was a Kagome now, a _real_ Kagome – could sense the jewel, maybe even Naraku. "Okay," she said breathlessly, "Characters… are now… real. Real characters. Honest to god, real characters. As people!" she frowned, "Oh." If that demon snake… thing, had been a low level low power give it a passing glance sort of demon, then what would it be like having to fight Naraku? And she would have to fight Naraku, fight him or run, because she wouldn't make a deal with a person like that.

Fight… run…

Both options were equally appealing, the latter perhaps even more so that the former. But before she could run, run and hide and find a way to go home or live peacefully, she unfortunately had one little piece of business to attend to. Her eyes flickered to the jewel shard. She had to return that to its rightful owner. In this case, Kagome.

On the bright side, this would mean that she got to meat Kagome. Imagine, her, some unimportant person from some boring as fuck universe actually getting to meet the Higurashi Kagome.

"Let's hope I don't die first," Shiko muttered to herself. It was a legitimate concern, after all. She hadn't even been here a day and already she had been attacked by villagers and then had to fight a demon that wanted to gobble her up and eat her with soy sauce for dinner. If that was how the rest of her little _adventure_ in this place was going to be like, then she wasn't sure she would make it out alive. Or whole, she supposed. Say if she only lost a hand or something, then she would still make it out alive, just less whole than she was when she arrived here. Bloody flippin' demons.

And what the hell was she going to do in the meantime? It wasn't like she could wander around, people had attacked her on sight, accused her of being a demon. How did InuYasha manage to go around, all dog ears and Tetsusaiga, without being attacked on a regular basis? Well, in fairness, he was attacked on a regular basis, just not by villagers. And Shiko supposed that traveling with a miko, a monk, and a demon slayer did sort of help him to forge the image of 'tamed'.

What was she to do though? She couldn't go anywhere, she didn't even know where to go, or when in the series she was, and she had no method of traveling. Well, no method of traveling that didn't involve being attacked on a regular basis by badly informed villagers. And what food did she have? A box of pocky and a candy bar? That wasn't nutritional, and that wouldn't last. She knew a bit about eating wild foods, but she had learned in a three-dimensional universe and hadn't accounted on not only everything looking different, but who knew what weird plant demons could have disguised themselves to look like perfectly innocent non-poisonous berries?

Now if there was some way to cover her hair and clothing, then she could travel about. But how was she to do that? Another glance in her bag confirmed that she had no clothing that could serve as a head-covering. Great, so now she had to obtain period clothing to pass off as human – which she was anyways, rather ridiculous – and she had no idea how to get anything-

"Brilliant!" she exclaimed to herself. The villagers that attacked her should still be out on their demon hunt, no? In that case… she could sneak into the village, do a little bit of plundering, and then sneak right back out again before any pitchfork wielding guys returned with said pitchforks. Sounded like as good a plan as any.

She hurried off in the direction she had come from, running to get there before the villagers did.

This time she was happier than when she had been chased. She was rushing, hurrying, but she didn't feel pressed or chased or anything like that. Yes, she was in a rush. But she could enjoy the rush anyways.

As soon as she reached the edge of the village, she hung back, not wanting to be seen in case the big buff angry guys with pitchforks had decided to return. She pressed her back to the trunk of a tree and waited, listening carefully. There wasn't very much sound coming from the village, just the sounds of animals and the slight hum in the background that indicated the presence of life. It seemed as though all the men who chased after her must still be on the hunt, searching blindly and wrongly for her. Perhaps they would find the melted remains of the snake demon's eye and think it was her. Shiko shuddered, a nasty chill tickling down her spine. Even thinking about how disgusting that had been was enough to make her wince and cringe.

Shiko stuck her head out an inch and peered towards the village. The place was pretty empty, quiet without the men there to make noise. Shiko could see a few of the women still working on the mountain terraces in the distance, small figures on the earthen steps, backs hunched over section of green plants. Okay, that was perfect. There wouldn't be anyone to try and kill her. Now where would be the best place to loot from? She didn't exactly _want_ to be a thief or steal, not a bit, but as the saying goes, desperate times call from desperate measures. And she needed a disguise.

Ducking out from behind the tree, she hurried over to the nearest wooden house, and saw, about two houses away, there was what looked like a storehouse. She was bound to find some kimono or something there, and that was all she needed for a good disguise. It was a good thing that she knew Japanese, she thought, otherwise it would be near impossible to blend in. And she had to blend in, because she couldn't exactly travel about the country being attacked, now could she? And she had to travel because she needed to give the jewel to Kagome, and then her mind got too confused and so the circle of thought continued.

After looking around thoroughly to make sure that no one was coming, she ran straight to the store house. She double checked for people before pressing the wooden door open and hurrying inside the tiny building. The place was cramped, filled to the brim with stuff, a small window high up letting in musky light. Herbs in yellowed wrappings hung from the ceiling, dried fruits and vegetables laid out on shelves, cut into dry and wrinkly slices. There were boxes piled onto boxes onto shelves, tied up with string and stamped with faded wax, displaying insignias and fancy names in kanji. Heavy bags of grain and rice lay in corners, too fat and lazy to move. Shiko stepped delicately through the piles of things, not wanting to disturb the heavy silence. Now, where were the kimono?

Faded silk peered out from the lid of a box, Shiko's eyes locked on and she reached for the box. The lid was heavy, meant to keep the fabrics protected from the age and wear of time. Shiko dropped the lid onto the floor and began sifting through the kimonos. The silk felt like smooth water against her skin, cool and even a bit wet. But of course, that might have just been her imagination. Flashes of royal purple and faded yellow blinked in and out of her vision as she pawed through the large box. The kimonos had been neatly folded before, now they were all crumpled by the disturbance of Shiko's hand.

After carefully considering which were too poor, which were too rich, which too cumbersome, and simply which she liked best, she finally pulled one out of the box. It was a deep blue, worn and weathered enough to not pass for royalty, yet not too battered to be mistaken for a peasants clothing. Patterns of grey ripples and murky Sakura blossoms faintly adorned the sleeve and hem. Perfect. Shiko removed her sword from her belt and placed it on the ground along with her book bag.

Her things from her world were too strange to pass unnoticed, they stood out far too much. As much as she didn't want to, if she was going to avoid notice, then she would have to get rid of her bag. Her clothes could be hidden under a kimono, her gun tucked away, but her bag was too large and bulky to be hidden. She undid the clasp and emptied the contents of her bag onto the floor. Slowly and carefully, she sorted everything into two piles, that she could keep and that she couldn't keep.

In the keep pile went her cell phone, mp3, box of bullets, her gun, box of pocky, and candy bar. In the throwaway pile were two broken pencils, yesterday's math homework, a bunch of gum wrappers, some English test that she failed, and a much battered copy of 'Tale of Two Cities'.

She scoped up everything that she was going to keep and shoved it inside a drawstring pouch that had been lying on the ground. Before she tossed her bag into some tiny corner of the rom, she removed her favorite pin from the shoulder strap and pinned it to her belt loop. It was plain red and said simply, 'Sorry, I took an arrow to the knee'. The book bag was then tossed away, where it would hopefully remain undisturbed, and Shiko allowed herself to cry over it for about half a second before moving on.

She took a length of thick string and used that to form a make-shift holster on her right thigh, which she then tucked her gun into. Shiko grabbed the blue kimono and put it over her regular clothes, then tied it shut with a thick black obi, making sure that she tied it in the back as best as she could. She picked her sword up off the straw covered ground and tucked into the obi, letting the heavy fold of the fabric keep the blade from rattling. Now, her hair was still the issue here. She tied it back into a ponytail gain, arranging the strands so that her bangs were only black, and that the black hair covered up the ble as much as possible until it fell into a ponytail. Then she grabbed a second kimono – deep purple – and used it to cover her head and act as a cloak. She had seen other princess or ladies do this in InuYasha, so she hoped it wouldn't attract attention. Then she took the drawstring bag and tied it to her obi.

Now that her disguise was complete, she could travel without being noticed until she found Kagome and gave her the shard. Then she could return home.

The door to the store house opened silently, just an inch so that Shiko could stick her head out and make sure that no one was coming. There wasn't a single person in sight, and she couldn't hear the ominous sound of footsteps, so she made a run for it.

Hurrying towards the green line in the distance that was the forest, she allowed herself a brief second to be glad that her new clothing didn't hinder her in any way. The tree cover was only a few feet away from where she was, but Shiko still breathed a sigh of relief once she pressed her back against the thick wood of a tree trunk. In and out safely. That was luckier than she could have asked for.

Now, which way to go?

And then Shiko's eyes fell on a small yellow stone lying beside a thin path that cut through the woods and she grinned.

"Follow the yellow brick road."


	4. Mold Does Heal People You Know

S-S: Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I would like to take this moment to give all you dedicated readers a warning; my mother is a bitch and cut the internet, so until I am able to get my own connection (I don't know when) updates will be few and far between (whenever I can head down to Starbucks for a latte and Wi-Fi).

And I don't own InuYasha.

* * *

><p>"Are you certain that if I apply this poultice of bread mold to my son's wound then it will drive away the infection?" the poor man asked, looking uncertainly at the wise-woman who had entered his house yesterday with the most outlandish claims of being able to cure infection with the fuzzy stuff that grew on flatbread.<p>

Shiko sighed, "Yes," she repeated for what must be the thousandth time. She had been traveling in a steady direction for almost two weeks now, and had gotten nowhere near anything that might look promising or give her a new lead. No strange encounters of demons, no mysterious figures passing through, and hell, not even any monks who happened to be among strange company and who happened to spot a mysterious and ominous cloud overhead the fanciest establishment in the village. She had been trying everything.

But no such luck, and unfortunately, Shiko had no money with which to purchase food or a place to stay, and although she could, she really disliked the whole sleeping in the wilderness and foraging for food thing. So she had been traveling through towns, which fortunately popped up pretty frequently along the yellow brick road, and doing little bits of things here and there to earn her money or shelter or food. Her specialty seemed to be doing bits of misfortune telling in English, so that no one could understand what she was saying. Misfortune telling was a lot like regular fortune telling, except that Shiko was a lot more accurate and often her predictions were less pleasant. So far she had predicted the Hiroshima and Nagasaki disasters, the earthquake and tsunami of 2011, and she might have even predicted world war two, although she wasn't wholly sure herself. Apart from that, she found that she was actually quite good at healing and curing people with her modern knowledge. It was actually rather disturbing how many people didn't even wash their hands before trying to 'cure' an ill person.

In fact, just today, she had rediscovered penicillin. It had been almost too easy. She had created the mold from some flatbread, and then made up some total bullshit about the mold possessing spirits of healing that would drive away the evil spirits. The villagers bought her story hook line and sinker.

"We cannot thank you enough, wise one," the father said with a deep bow, "How can we ever repay you for saving the life of my son?"

Ah, now to the real reason why Shiko was doing this, "I would care for nothing more than a hot meal and a place to stay for the night. And… I have a few questions that I would care to ask your family, about things that they have seen in these parts of the country." Her Japanese was back to fluency again, after a few days she re-learned all the bits and pieces that she had forgotten through time. She had even began to try out some accents, speaking like nobility to gain more respect from the people she met. It worked surprisingly well, so long as she didn't do anything that might make people think that she was a witch or a demon or something.

"Of course," he replied, standing to the side to allow her to enter his house, "Although I still feel as though I owe you a larger debt than this repays."

Shiko stepped inside the small house, her sneakers fortunately covered by her kimono as she stepped on the wooden floor, "Don't worry over it. This means more to me than you may know, and value is after all, all in the eye of the beholder. It may be you to which I owe a debt." A good mix of philosophical and gracious, the perfect way to charm her into people's hearts. She was just glad that she wasn't actually a conman, if she was, it would have been pathetically easy to make away with all the family's wealth.

The house was actually rather pleasant. A woman with a kind face stirred a pot of stew over an open fire, her daughter sitting next to her as polite as she could be with the hyper activeness of a child. The man's brother was also there, a tall man with a grizzled face that made him look harsh in a kind sort of way, a tanto stowed away in his belt and an empty quiver that once held arrows strung over his back.

Shiko could smell the musty wood and the ash from the fire, mixed in with the delicious aroma of meats and spices coming from the pot. When she sat down around the fire, the brother gave her a smile and a nod and the woman served her a large bowl of stew. This place was nice, familial and comforting, simplistic yet not horrible in its old ways. If she didn't want to get home so badly, Shiko might have been content to stay in the feudal era for a while longer. Well, no matter. She was here now and she would enjoy the peace while it lasted.

"So tell me," the brother said to Shiko, giving her a serious look, "What's a medicine lady like yourself doing around these parts?"

_Remember to act like you're royalty_, Shiko mentally commanded herself as she prepped her best regal accent and her most eloquent speech patterns, "I am on a pilgrimage," she said, with a slight air of haughtiness.

The brother looked embarrassed and turned his gaze to the fire, "A spiritual journey is a brave quest indeed, especially for such a fine young woman like yourself," he commented with a slight bow of the head, "Your blade, I take it you are skilled in the art of the sword?"

She paused before replying, remembering that it was very unusual for a woman to fight, let alone carry a blade, "Oh no," she replied with a smile, waving if off like it was a silly thought, "It was a gift from the head miko at my temple. I am to take it to the base of," get information! "Mount Hakurei, and offer it as a gift to the spirits sealed there."

The woman gasped from across the fire, "All the way to Mount Hakurei?!" she said, surprised, before blushing furiously at her embarrassment, "I mean," she corrected, "The mountain is many days of walking away, and there are rumors of strangers in those parts. It is probably nothing," she looked down at her nervous hands.

Strangers near Hakurei? Shiko felt a smile sneak onto her face as she took a bite of the stew. Now she was getting somewhere, "Oh?" she asked, her voice _just_ the right tone of curious, "Strangers near Hakurei? Please, I would love to know more."

The brother scoffed, "Recently, there was a rumor from the neighboring town that a strange company passed through on their way to Mount Hakurei. Just old wives tales really, strangers go to the mountain all the time on pilgrimages or to be purified by the mountain's holy aura. Even the occasional demon has been seen around here, although they tend to be running away, not seeking it out. Personally, I do not take much stock in such silly gossip."

The husband piped up at this, having remained mostly quiet, but apparently having something to say, "Not just the town over," he said, worried, "I was five days away last week, at a town all the way to the west of the mountain, and they said that there was a stranger through town as well, heading to the mountain," he sighed and shook his head, "I know that it's probably nothing, but don't you think it's odd? So many strange people heading to the mountain?"

"These strangers," Shiko said, trying to contain her excitement. This could be exactly what she was looking for! Clues as to where in the story line she was! Obviously, what with the jewel and everything, she knew that she was somewhere between the start of the story and the middle, after which the shards were not commonly found around, "Tell me more about them. Were they demons, humans? What did they look like?"

The husband looked down at the fire, "I heard that it was a priestess," he said quietly, "A young woman, with pitch black hair and pale skin, and the townsfolk there almost thought she was a demon because she seemed to get weaker the closer to the mountain she got, and you know what the holy barrier does to demons. But no, apparently she was just ill, looking to be cured at the mountain and she passed through in less than a day."

Kikyo. It had to be, what other priestesses was traveling to the mountain and adversely affected by its barrier, so much so that her weakness actually became noticeable? Well, this certainly gave Shiko a good idea of where in the plot she was, "And the town over, who passed through there?" she prompted the brother.

The brother grinned, like enjoying a good story, "Demons, I heard!"

"Nonsense, stop your tales!" the husband said with a glare, "Demons? Near the mountain? Never heard of, it's impossible. Stop telling such blatant lies in front of our lady guest."

Shiko gave the husband a stern look that promptly silenced him, "I would like to hear this tale of demons," she said quietly, "It may prove to be entertaining, if not informative." Please, let him continue the story! She had to hear about demons approaching the mountain, because it would be so very telling either way.

The brother continued enthusiastically, "I heard that it was a group of demons in human form! They knew the rest was demon cause the leader was a demon, and what humans would willingly follow a creature like that? Anyways," he said, holding up four fingers, "There was four of them, a woman with a boomerang, a demon dressed as a monk, a girl dressed like the cheapest whore, and a demon with white hair. There was also some gibberish about a nekomata traveling with them, but what monster cat would travel in a group like that?" he shrugged, "If it is demons, then there be strange things happening at the mountain."

Yes!

After to whole weeks of nothing, she finally got some decent information! And not just decent, exactly what she wanted to know! Now, she knew exactly where in the plot she was and she knew exactly where to go. All she had to do was ask to be pointed in the direction of Hakurei and she would be set to find Kagome, give her the jewel shard, and then maybe get an autograph before being on her merry way home, "I see, that is most interesting." Shiko said, "In fact, I fear that I must leave first thing tomorrow to catch up with them."

The husband frowned, "Why would you want to catch up demons?"

Opps, time for damage control, "I have been chasing those demons for a while now," Shiko lied, "And now that I finally have a lead, I can catch them and purify them with sutras and charms. It shall only take a day to intercept them, so it is not as though this shall hinder the assignment given to me and ridding the world of a few more demons shall do only good."

"I see," the brother said, looking a little intimidated, "It is always reassuring to know that there are holy women such as yourself out there that have dedicated themselves to eradicating the scum that walk this earth."

On second thought, maybe Shiko didn't like this family as much as she thought she did. No matter, she would be gone in the morning.

She had a jewel to return.

* * *

><p>She snuck out of the house in the early morning, her sneakers fabulously silent on the wooden floors, the rest of the inhabitants still fast asleep. After quickly stopping off in the son's room to make sure that the penicillin was working and that his wound hadn't re-opened from the stress of medication, she found herself vanishing out the front door like a wraith.<p>

The town was practically silent this early, it was still dark out, probably about two in the morning, although Shiko wasn't going to check her pocket watch to make sure. There was only the silent hush of people sleeping and Shiko's footsteps.

She wasn't going to raid the town for food or supplies, although she probably should and it wasn't as though she was going to be blamed if her theft was discovered. She simply had enough food to last a few days already and she really had to get going. There was so little time and it seemed as though Shiko was running out of time at an hour per second rate. The Inutachi had already passed through on their way to the mountain, Kikyo was probably there by now, Kouga's arrival would be plot-based and therefore easy to figure out, and of course Naraku had been there the whole time. The only one that was still an unknown was Sesshomaru, and Shiko knew that even if she inquired at every town, there wouldn't be any news of him.

But she wasn't about to complain. This couldn't be more perfect. With Naraku temporarily out of the picture, and quite frankly the thought of him being real and alive and out there terrified Shiko a bit, it would be easier to deliver the shard to Kagome and then leave without causing a fuss. Just in there, out, and then back home. Simple as that.

Shiko sighed as she took one last look at the pleasant town. Then she turned to face the mountains that she knew lead to Mount Hakurei. Time for her to enter the plot.


	5. Why Bridges Are Designed to Collapse

S-S: I don't own InuYasha.

"Many days of travel indeed," Shiko said with a sigh.

Shiko had been walking almost non-stop for a week to get close to the mountain. At least… she could now see where she was trying to get to.

As she relaxed in the thick roots of a tree, she could see the tall mountain looming over head, pure and clean and yet still managing to send shivers of fear down her spine at the mere thought of the battles that would scare the holy land. It was a beautiful mountain, she thought, having had a while to gaze at it while she rested. There was simply something about the mountain that was cleansing. Perhaps this would be described as an aura? Even the least spiritual of humans could feel the holy aura apparently, and it seemed that Shiko was no exception to this.

She stretched her arms out and enjoyed the feel and sound of those tiny bones in her knuckles cracking. With a bit of a sigh, she stood up and picked up the discarded kimono, tossing it over her head and tugging it around her face. As cumbersome as this head covering thing had been, she had to admit, it had been excellent for keeping the rain off her head and adding a useful aura of mystery to her origins, which was ridiculously useful when she was trying to convince people that her knowledge of medicine really was accurate.

A small dirt path that had probably been created only through erosion due to the lack of people cut through the dense forest. Shiko had been following this path for half a day, hoping that it would lead to the base of the mountain, from which she was sure she could find her way to where she wanted to get to. So far, the path was still not at the base of the mountain, but that was perhaps a good thing, because there was no way that she would find InuYasha and subsequently Kagome inside the holy barrier.

Her sneakers cut into the dirt as she began her journey down the road once again. She was glad for the distinction this path made. There was a sheer cliff face to her right, going down a ridiculous number of feet that she would never care to find out. And this place was covered in mist. Mist everywhere and all of it was thick and dense and it covered the surroundings in its heavy fog, obscuring Shiko's vision to an annoying degree.

It got to a point where she could barely see ahead of her, "Well at least I know where the freaking cliff is…" she muttered to herself as she trudged along the path.

"_AAAAAHHHHH!"_

Shiko froze.

That was a scream, definitely a scream. Sounded like a little girl too.

"Shit!" she swore, breaking out into a run, heading as fast as she could towards the sound of the noise, hoping beyond anything that she would be in time to save that poor little girl. She grabbed the hem of her kimono and hitched it up to around her knees so that she could run faster, her right hand automatically flickering to the handle of her gun.

Please be in time, she though desperately.

Then the mist parted and she skidded to a stop, a wooden bridge at her feet. She was at the edge of a great chasm, the rope bridge looking flimsy and old and also the only thing between her and a terrifying drop. But the scream had come from here.

She looked up and saw through the mist. Standing on the bridge was a tall and burly man, dressed in armor. And his hands… were sharp metal claws!? Then the girl screamed again and Shiko reacted before she could think things through or even consider how this might mess up her feebly concocted plans entirely.

Her hand dropped to her gun and she yanked it out. She pulled the trigger, let the gun rock backwards, and then fired again. The loud crack of the gun sounded twice in almost instant succession.

The man seemed to crumple to the ground, like a badly formed puppet. "Damn it!" Shiko swore under her breath, stowing her gun away and hurrying over across the bridge to where the man had fallen. If he was dead… then she didn't even want to think about that. She had aimed to take out his knees so that he wouldn't be able to walk, but what if she had missed?

She clattered to a stop on the rickety slats on the bridge, dropping to her knees in front of the fallen man. No blood poured from his legs, yet Shiko could definitely see the bullet holes in his clothes from where she had shot him. What the hell? He had no pulse. Shiko was about to grab the man's shoulders and turn him over to see if he still breathed when the guy twitched.

He placed a hand on the bridge and pushed himself up, slowly, and with the awkward movements of someone who had just been… well, shot in the knees. Shiko scrambled back and reached for her gun again. Who the hell was this guy? And then the guy turned so that she could see his face and Shiko swore again.

This really wasn't her day. The man's tattoos and facial features made it obvious. He was Suikotsu of the band of seven.

"Who the hell are you?" he snarled at her, dragging his body up and across the bridge, raising a sharp and clawed hand threateningly. Behind him, the girl screamed again.

Shiko gulped. How the hell could she get rid of this guy? He was going to kill her, she had definitely made him angry enough for that, and he definitely had the means to dispose of her in an instant. How could she get rid of him?! If shooting his knees only stopped him from walking, then how could she- oh right. Jewel shard in the neck.

"I said-" he growled, "Who the fuck are you?!"

Taking a step backwards, Shiko grasped the handle of her sword. Don't think, she reminded herself, just do. In one clean motion, she drew her blade and lunged forward, stabbing him in the neck.

His eyes widened in disbelief as he toppled backwards, a small shard of tainted black jewel being forced out of his neck. As soon as he hit the wooden bridge, he had turned to little more than bones and scraps of fabric. The rest of him had turned to funeral ash and scattered away in the non-existent breeze.

Shiko sheathed her blade and, using a scrap of Suikotsu' kimono as a barrier between her and the taint, picked up the defiled shard of the jewel. She wasn't stupid enough or arrogant enough to think that she could survive touching it full on, the jewel was corrupted and foul, unlike the only slightly dirty one she had retrieved from the snake demon. She placed the jewel in the pouch at her waist where it fell in to clink with the other jewel shard.

"Miss! Thank you for saving me!" the girl cried.

Shiko looked up at the girl for the first time and determined that today was really, definitely not her day at all.

The girl still looked a little scared, but her bright brown eyes smiled up at Shiko with honest thanks and relief. She was small, about ten maybe, and wore an orange kimono with a checkered pattern. Her brown hair was up in one side pigtail.

It looked as though Shiko had just saved Rin.

"Rin!" someone else cried, "Get back, this human could be dangerous!" It was a small green toad-thing, with a wide flat beak for a mouth and carrying a staff that was twice the height of the demon itself. Jaken. He pushed Rin behind him and waved the staff at Shiko threateningly, "Get away, you filthy human!" he yelled at her.

"Who are you!" he demanded.

Shiko gave him a serious stare, "Human-girl-who-is-on-your-side-and-isn't-an-enemy-in-any-way-what-so-ever-and-is-most-definitely-not-filthy-no-matter-what-you-say. But you can go ahead and call me Shiko."

Rin bowed, with all the seriousness that a small girl could muster up, "Thank you for saving me and Jaken-sama, Shiko-san."

"Don't mention it," She replied, turning around to leave before she interfered in history too much. This was way not what she was supposed to be doing, and she had to leave now.

"Not so fast."

Someone else flew over Shiko's head and landed with ridiculous grace in front of her. It was a man-woman, wearing a kimono too short for him and his dark hair was pulled up in a very feminine bun. Jyakotsu. They just kept coming didn't they. He held his snake-blade in his hand and leaned towards Shiko's face, "Ugh, you're a _woman_," he said, disappointed, "Not my taste _at all_. But who are you? How did you kill Suikotsu?"

Shiko felt her hands begin to shake in fear and she stepped backwards slowly, "Look man," she said, holding up her hands defensively, "I'd rather be on my way as well, in fact, I would really like to be leaving, and leaving you alone to get back to your killing and maiming and whatever other horrendous acts that you commit," she said diplomatically.

"Your fight is with me." Another voice said.

_Please have that not be who I think it is_, Shiko silently pleaded. She turned to the side a half step so that she could look behind her but still keep her eye on Jyakotsu. Damn it. It was Sesshomaru. And he looked furious, even with a straight face it was easy to tell that Jyakotsu had gotten on his nerves. Now, it wasn't as if Shiko disliked Sesshomaru, in fact, he was one of her most favorite characters. However, she wanted to get the shards to Kagome, say hi, and then get home as soon as she could, because really, home was the only place that she belonged. Sesshomaru was one of the few people clever enough to be able to figure out where she came from and what hidden knowledge she had – the same knowledge that she was determined to keep to herself.

"But you're not as interesting!" Jyakotsu protested, acting more like a child than a murderous adult, "And even if you are a man, you're still not as pretty as my InuYasha," he pouted, "Why don't I kill this human first, and then get right back to you, okay?" he lifted his sword and let it rest causally on his shoulders.

"How about _no_!" Shiko protested. He couldn't just kill her like that! Okay, actually he could. No police to stop him, no morals or conscience to get in the way, and strength greater than that of Shiko herself. Technically, he could just kill her like that. But it didn't mean that she was going to let him.

Sesshomaru stepped onto the bridge and raised his blade, "Jaken," he ordered calmly.

The toad gasped and looked around, namely at the fact that a strange human and a psychopath were standing quite close to him and Rin. He grabbed hold of Rin's hand and pulled her away from the fight and off the bridge, hiding behind Sesshomaru.

Jyakotsu sighed in dismay, "Hmphf. You're no fun. And here I was thinking that you might do something fun if I killed that brat. Oh well," he glared at Shiko, "And you, you stupid woman, you're not even mildly interesting. No cute ears, no adorable tail, and you aren't wearing all that sexy fur like that wolf demon did."

"Sorry I don't fit your fetish," Shiko muttered under her breath, grabbing the handle of her sword.

But before they could all break out into a full on fight, a sudden buzzing filled the ravine.

A swarm of noxious colored insects buzzed around Jyakotsu, as if there to deliver a message, which, when Shiko thought about it, they probably were. Jyakotsu listened for a moment before sighing again, "Aw, and here I was just starting to enjoy myself," he complained, "We'll get you for killing Suikotsu," he stated, glaring at Shiko with every intention of turning that threat into a promise.

And then he turned around, and vanished with the insects, fleeing across the bridge.

As soon as he was gone, Shiko breathed a deep sigh of relief. That was one problem solved.

"Who are you," Sesshomaru demanded, and to Shiko's fear, he had yet to sheath his sword, which meant that Shiko was still a threat.

She shrugged, "Does it matter? I saved Rin," she said, knowing that it was that single act that was sparing her life, "And I'm not on the side of the people who were just attacking you, so bonus points there. But if you really want to know, my name is Shiko."

He still was glaring at her, "You have a peculiar accent," he noted.

Damn him for being clever. And damn her for letting her voice slip. Shiko gulped and switched to a heavy Osaka accent, "Oh, do I?" she asked sarcastically, before switching back to her usual voice, "That's nice to know and all, but I _really_ have to be going- I'm not even supposed to be here at all- and I have an important delivery to make."

"Are you after the Shikon jewel?" Sesshomaru asked, looking ever so slightly annoyed at her pointless mimicry.

Shiko shook her head, "Not at all. In fact, I am one of the few people who has no interest in the jewel what-so-ever. All I want to do with it is get rid of it."

She had to leave. This was getting way out of hand, and she knew that while here, she had to change as little as possible. Unfortunately, she had already killed Suikotsu before he was supposed to die, and she had taken his jewel shard for herself. At least Suikotsu would have died anyways, so it wouldn't be that major of a difference, but from here on out she had to try and keep absolutely everything the same. What else had she changed?

Well, Rin never got kidnapped, but the end result of that was Suikotsu's death, so she had sort of resolved that arc already, nothing to be done there. Without Rin getting kidnapped, Jaken didn't destroy the bridge and get hit on his head when he lost Rin, again, no big loss, but who knew what sort of butterfly affect the bridge could have had, now that it wasn't destroyed.

Shiko would have to destroy the bridge. Easy to do, and that would provide an easy distraction to get Sesshomaru off her case and to get herself out of this increasingly bad situation. Only there was one small problem, Sesshomaru was blocking her way off the bridge. Well, there was a river below there, and Rin, a small and highly fragile child, had survived without so much as a broken bone. So it would be as if Shiko risked dying anyways. All her important electronics and her gun were in a waterproof bag, no damage done. And what the hell? Yolo, right?

She grasped her sword and unsheathed it, "This bridge is supposed to be destroyed," she said with a fake smile, "Who am I to argue with that, eh?"

And then she slashed her blade through the wooden slates and the supporting beams and fell into empty space.

Shiko grabbed hold of her blade and her head covering and tucked her body into a tiny ball, hitting the water with a splash, letting the current sweep her away. She knew how to swim, she would be fine. And she was sure that Sesshomaru had already returned to solid ground.


	6. Don't Ask Questions, Only Tell

S-S: Oh dear, long chapter here. But I do introduce another OC who I'm sure will annoy the heck out of everybody!

I don't own InuYasha

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><p>A wide river ran through the forest, the blue water spotted with green light from trees and the pale white mist that was everywhere around the holy mountain. The water was deep, tall enough for a person to stand upright in, and some might have even tried to do so on a dare. But no one knew how to swim and so the few that tried to wade in were washed away.<p>

A small hand, the nails painted black, reached out of the water and clawed at the bank. A moment later, Shiko hauled herself out of the water. She was wet and dripping but otherwise she was relatively unharmed. "Note to self," she muttered under her breath, "Don't yolo."

She tugged her kimono off her head and draped it over a welcome tree branch to dry. Her hands went to her soaking hair as she tried to wring the water out. To her great fortune, the pouch with her things was waterproof and nothing else was valuable, save her sword. She removed her blade from her obi and unsheathed it, wiping it as dry as possible so that the metal wouldn't rust from all that water. With great care, she left the blade on the ground next to her small pouch.

Undoing the waterlogged obi was tricky, but she managed and hung that over a branch as well as her kimono. Her socks and shoes went of next, and she wiggled her toes in the grass appreciatively. The jeans would take hours to dry, but she could still walk with them wet, it was the kimono that she was concerned about, because she really couldn't go anywhere without the use of a disguise. She double checked to make sure that no water had gotten into her gun or phone or mp3.

Satisfied that everything was fine, she sat down on the bank of the river and relaxed, dipping her toes in the water as she waited for her things to dry.

This era wasn't all that bad, she decided. Even if everything was all primitive and two dimensional. Okay, so she didn't honesty see things as two dimensional any more, but the point still stood. She stretched her arms in the air and cracked her knuckles.

"Hello Shiko," a calm voice said from behind her.

Shock gripped her and she jumped up, turning around in an instant to see who was there.

It was a woman, about late-twenties. But whoever she was, she wasn't from this era.

Her hair was pitch black and fell to her waist, her bangs swept to the side in a vaguely punk style and streaked with red. The woman was wearing a short grey skirt with a very long pendant wrapped around her waist, a sharp black stone resting on her thigh. Her black shirt was more like a corset or bodice, covering only her chest and the draping sleeves fell of her shoulders. On the center of the bodice, a strange star or diamond like emblem was emblazed in purple. Her belly button was pierced with a ruby stud and she was wearing combat boots that went past her knees. And her eyes were bright demonic red.

"You're not from around these parts, are you?" Shiko asked, trying to keep as calm as possible and not attack this strange woman because she was one-hundred percent positive that the woman was a demon and dangerous. How she was wearing modern clothes was beyond her however.

The woman smiled, "No, I'm really not," she seemed to give Shiko a once-over without moving her eyes, "You dislike the fact that you don't know who I am."

Shiko frowned, "Of course. So far, I have been able to pin names and abilities to strange demons. I'd care to known how to fight you, if it came to that."

"Ever the fighter, aren't you?" the woman commented, "But I can tell that you're bursting with questions. Unfortunately, I doubt I will be able to answer most of them and the majority of them can't be asked yet, so please remain silent. I promise that what I can answer, I will answer later. You should also be aware of the fact that I am banned from lying to you and that I have no intentions to deceive or harm you," It was like she was reading Shiko her rights, the woman just explained it all in that clip terse voice of hers.

"Okay," Shiko said, even though things really weren't, "Why are you here then?"

The woman held up a hand, "Nope, that was a question. Therefore I can't answer it. Hmm…" she put a carefully manicured finger over her purple lips and thought, "I know! Since I can't tell you who I am… why don't you call me Masa?"

Shiko raised an eyebrow, "All right, Masa."

Masa kept staring at Shiko with the same gaze as someone looking for imperfections, "Hmm… You're a bit more lean than I thought you would be," she noted, "And your hair is simply too outlandish for this time period, but you've covered it quite well and made yourself a fairly decent cover story in your travels. Too risk taking however."

"And you're too annoying," Shiko replied in an instant, her natural snarkyness acting up before her brain could remind her that this was an unknown and potentially powerful demon that she was dealing with.

Masa grinned, "Nice attitude. You'll do well here."

"What is this all about?" Shiko asked, annoyed with all the crazy coming from Masa, "Who are you? Why are you here?"

The older woman just shook her head, "Questions, questions, little Shiko-chan."

"If I can't ask questions, then what's the point in talking to me?!" Shiko demanded.

Masa replied quickly, "A question again. You need to learn."

Learn? She was acting like this was all some big game or some sort of fancy test that Shiko had to pass. Like she was a rat in a maze trying to find the cheese or jump through hoops or something. Shiko frowned and thought, "All right," she said after a pause, "I know that you aren't human. I know that you aren't a regular demon from this time period either because your clothes are so obviously from my time. I know that you can't answer most questions. But there are some you can. Only you can't answer them yet. You can't lie. And you can't hurt me. Or trick me. So then I assume that something has to happen before you can answer my questions."

Masa clapped, "Yes, bravo Shiko-chan! Just keep thinking, keep analyzing. You have one of the brightest and most informed minds in this time period, use it! Something does have to happen before I can answer your questions. Figure out what it is," she held up a finger, "But don't ask. Tell."

Shiko frowned, and then said, "I have to die."

Masa shook her head, "No."

"I need to go on a journey of some sort or find some object," she tried again.

"No."

"It has something to do with you then."

"No."

"So it has something to do with me."

"Yes. Only you."

"I need to be in another time."

"No. Think simpler."

"I need to get a haircut and change my appearance."

Masa laughed, "No."

"I need to kill a powerful demon or defeat an enemy."

"No."

"I need to get rid of the jewel shards."

Masa's make-up covered face lit up in a smile, "Yes!"

So she needed to get rid of the shards then. All she needed to do in that case was find Kagome and give her the shards, which so far hadn't been proving as easy as she thought. Then a second thing occurred to her. Why was she working so hard to please this annoying and mysterious and crazy woman who wouldn't even answer her freaking questions? She didn't owe her anything, she had no reason to do what she said. Of course, it wasn't like Shiko was going to keep the jewel shards just for the sake of being contrary, but it was becoming a damn temping idea!

"So I get rid of the jewel shards and then you answer my questions," Shiko stated.

Masa nodded, "Yup, that's right. You'll have to find me again afterwards though, but I'll try and make it easy for you. And there's something you should know before I leave. If you want to live, you will stay away from the dead priestess."

"The dead priestess," Shiko murmured, "That would be… Kikyo."

But when she looked up to confirm Masa's reaction, the woman had vanished without even a trace.

Shiko swore. She knew enough to know that even if she looked for days, she would find neither hide nor hair of the strange woman. Masa was an alias, but Shiko didn't know why she had hidden her name and her identity. And for that matter, unless the woman could travel through time or use the well, Shiko wasn't even sure that she was a demon at all. Of course, all signs pointed towards demon, but there was no other way to explain the modern clothing she had worn.

Shiko pulled her slightly damp kimono off the tree and got fully dressed again, her face still set in a frown.

* * *

><p>Shiko stood at the base of the mountain, looking up at it and feeling horrible.<p>

Before, the holy aura had felt calm, soothing, pure. Now it was crushing, like it was trying to pull something from her and she didn't know what. There was no hope of getting closer, not unless she wanted to pass out and subsequently get herself killed by the band of seven that couldn't be too far away.

So she could not approach the mountain. And… as much as she wanted to leave and go home, if she gave the shards to Kagome now, they would simply be taken by Naraku during the confrontation inside the mountain. Although Shiko had sworn to herself that she would not get involved, she would not let that happen if she had any say. And unless Shiko distanced herself from Hakurei, the band of seven would send a more powerful member to retrieve the shards and seek vengeance for their killed 'brother'. So staying and waiting was out. But then she would have to remain close enough to the mountain to know when it fell and know when it would be safe to hand over the shards to Kagome.

Shiko turned and began to walk away from the mountain, her steps growing lighter and faster the farther she was from the holy aura. How strange, that a pure barrier would have such an effect on her. As far as she was aware, she had committed no deplorable acts, and if killing Suikotsu had been considered as such, then why would Sango and Kagome remain unaffected, when they had also killed villains?

Maybe it just had something to do with how she had arrived in this world. Maybe the holy barrier recognized that she didn't belong and tried to shut her out. Either way, she was leaving and so it did not matter.

"Hey!" Someone yelled, really loudly, "Wait just one freaking moment!"

Shiko froze. Another of the band of seven? InuYasha? Or someone or something even worse? Maybe it would just be another human, but that was unlikely because there were so few of them around here and why would a human be so close to the mountain? And she doubted most feudal humans were so rude to a woman that they didn't know.

Feeling her stomach sinking, she slowly turned around, her right hand on the handle of her sword.

And then she swore. Twice.

Kouga frowned at her and marched closer, a nervous looking Kagome following him, holding Shippo and Kirara in her arms. Damn, Kouga looked pretty beat up, and there were those two wolves that followed him around, what where their names? Ginta and Hakkaku or something like that?

She frowned and thought for a moment. Going by the time she was in, where she was in the storyline… Kagome and Kouga being together and not having InuYasha be around and fighting Kouga, that must mean they had just finished battling the fire-user in the band of seven. Renkotsu, that was his name. And then InuYasha had left to go into the mountain, hadn't he? And then… the barrier broke and Kouga and Kagome went into the mountain after them.

Kagome said to Kouga, "They're at her waist, two of them. But she's not one of the band of seven."

Shiko swore again. Damn it all, of course Kagome could see the jewel shards. This was not a good day for her, not at all. First Suikotsu and then Sesshomaru, crazy ass Masa, and now this? Of course, before she would have been happy to meet Kagome and give her the shards, but as she now realized, she couldn't do that, unless she intended them to fall straight into the hands of Naraku.

Kouga grinned that feral and creepy smile of his, "You're just a human girl, this'll be easy," he said, cracking his knuckles.

Ah damn, she had to do something fast. "If you are after the Shikon jewel shards, I will gladly give them to you," she said quickly, holding up her hands in a gesture of peace.

Kagome looked at her curiously, "You have a strange accent, almost…" she paused and then shock her head, "I apologize. For a moment there you sounded American. My mistake."

Shiko gulped. This was the second freaking time today that her accent had slipped! God damn it, were her usually flawless language skills – except for Spanish, damn the language – disappearing because she was too proud of them or something? "Well actually," she said with a nervous laugh, "There's a very good reason for that. But I think the jewel shards are ranked higher on the list of importance, don't you?"

"Damn straight they are," Kouga replied in an instant, "Hand 'em over."

As authoritative as he may be, Kouga was not really in charge here, and therefore Shiko did not have to answer to him or do what he said. He was strong, certainly, but he wouldn't do something that Kagome told him not to do. Lucky for Shiko, since she was sure that the only one who would support her or who had a chance of understanding where she was coming from here was Kagome. "I would, but then the shards would not be safe, and I really don't want to help Naraku," Shiko said cautiously. "If possible, I would like to speak only to you," she pointed to Kagome.

Kagome frowned, "Me?" she asked, confused, "Why?"

Shiko reached to her side and held out her gun, "You are the only person in this world who would know what this is, the same way that I know where you come from based on your clothes. You aren't from this time, and neither am I."

Her blue eyes went wide, "You're from my world too!?" she gasped, looking both equally shocked and happy at the same time, "How did you get here? Can you travel through the well?"

Stowing away her gun, Shiko shook her head, "I really don't know. If I could answer that, I would, but I can't. But let me tell you that I studied this period in time very thoroughly with a more open mind than most," that wasn't a lie, she really had, "And I know that giving you these shards at this time would only benefit Naraku."

"What the heck are you two going on about?" Kouga asked, looking at Shiko like she had just escaped from a mental hospital.

Kagome smiled at him and said simply, "She comes from the same home-town as I do!"

"Oh, well," Kouga said, looking at Shiko like she was less of a threat now, "That's fine then, I guess."

Shiko felt the barrier tugging on her more and more, the itch to leave growing stronger, "I will get the jewel shards back to you as soon as you are able to leave mount Hakurei. Right now though, the barrier is affecting me for some reason, and I really need to get as far away from here as possible." Not to mention there was that whole 'warned by a creepy stranger that Kikyou would kill her or something' issue going on.

Kagome thought for a moment and then replied, "All right. Please don't betray me though."

Shiko shook her head, "I would never do that," she said firmly, "And by the way, my name is Shiko."

"And I'm Kagome," she said with a smile, "It was very nice to meet someone from where I come from. I hope you can find your way home though,"

"So do I," Shiko said quietly, before turning around and walking quickly away from the barrier, "I'll see you later!" she called, "And I'll keep the shards as safe as I possibly can until I find you again!"

"Bye!" Kagome called.


	7. Bye Bye Mount Hakurei

S-S: I decided to make chapters longer. They were too short and I got annoyed. Also, I apologize if anyone finds this chapter confusing, there will be answers, I promise!

I don't own InuYasha, but I do own Shiko.

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><p>Shiko watched from a safe and carefully calculated distance as Mount Hakurei fell. Demons poured out of the rock and from the cracks and caverns, so many demons that she would have sworn it was impossible. It almost looked fake, only the strong violent feeling in her gut wouldn't go away. Maybe that was an 'aura', like the feeling she got when around the mountain. Was it something all humans could sense? Or maybe it was because she was new to this world and had never before sensed an aura, in essence, making her hyperaware? Either way, it was a bit worrying. The barrier around the mountain had been a whole different sort of bad.<p>

The mountain had felt as if it had been trying to destroy a piece of her insides, but the constant flow of demons from the mountain felt like bloodlust in the air or something. She didn't really know what bloodlust felt like, but she would imagine that it felt rather like the feeling coming from the mountain; a sort of heavy pain that tried to make her eyes see red when she didn't focus on pushing the feeling out. In a sick and slightly masochistic way, Shiko wondered what Naraku's aura would be like. She knew it couldn't be a 'just cause they're demonic' thing. Kouga's aura hadn't been malevolent and even Sesshomaru – although he defiantly gave off a cold vibe – hadn't held the same suffocating evil intent of these demons. Maybe it was all about the intent, or the thoughts and feelings of whoever's aura it was.

Either way, it didn't matter. All that mattered at the moment was leaving the area. She jumped down from the low tree branch she had been perched in and hit the ground with a rough _thump_.

"Bye bye Mount Hakurei," she said softly to the mountain before she turned around and-

She gasped in pan and fell to the ground.

There was a sudden pain, like something had grabbed hold of her heart and began to yank it out of her body while it still beat in her chest. Something was pulling and tugging on a thing that was very precious to her and that was still part of her and it _hurt_.

It was wrong, it was a pain, this wasn't supposed to happen, this was like the mountain only painful and unbearable. The mountain had been taking hold of the same part of her, only that had been more uncomfortable and bearable. This was something unnatural and deeply deeply wrong. This was pain and pulling and ripping. Her heart was beating too fast, an erratic drumming in her ears that told her that her heart was still in her chest and that she was still alive.

The pulling just didn't stop. It just kept tugging on her, tugging tugging tugging until Shiko swore it would tear her soul out of her. If she had a soul. If this wasn't her heart that pained her.

She was being tugged towards the mountain and she followed wearily. Her legs were unsteady and her mind kept jumping out of her body, she kept feeling as if she could see farther ahead than where she was. She felt sick and kept walking.

Her legs pulled at exposed tree roots and she could feel herself stumbling and tripping and she could still feel the bitter scratching of branches on her skin but at the same time she could not feel it. It was muted by a distance that should not be there and stung less. She just kept feeling as though everything that she was was being pulled towards the mountain.

Why the mountain? Surely, this could not be the doing on Naraku. He had never showed this sort of power in the series, that or miasma or something canon just happened to affect Shiko in an entirely different way. But surely that was not possible. What ability could make Shiko feel as if she was being pulled out of herself?

She tumbled and fell to the ground, her body not responding to commands unless she mentally shouted them. Thinking was impossible, what rational thoughts could she form with the unbearable agony on her mind? Or was it her mind? Was it her heart? Her soul? She didn't know what a soul really was and she didn't understand the concept, but if a soul was anything like a heart and if it existed at all, she imagined that ripping it out of a body would feel a good deal like what she was going through right now.

Slowly, she managed to drag herself up and continue to stumble towards Mount Hakurei. Her hands reached out as if blind and she felt the firm bark of trees, leaning against the wood to steady herself. She did feel blind. Her vision kept jumping out of her eyes and there was too much blood leaving her head. Everything made her blind and she had to feel her way upwards by keeping her hands on trees or ahead of her.

"Shiko-san?"

A voice rang in her head and she didn't know who was talking. It was too hard to distinguish sounds. Too hard to do anything at all. She knew the voice but she didn't know who spoke and she couldn't see, only blurs of the trees and her hands and then blurs of blue sky that she couldn't be able to see.

Orange and brown swirled in her vision. "Shiko-san!"

Shiko tried to wave her hand towards the voice but her arm responded too slowly, "Can't see you," she gasped out, but she didn't think that her voice came from her mouth.

Her head titled up to the sky but her body didn't move. Streaks of white descended from the air, following her like a ghostly shroud.

She could see them from far too up-close and from a few feet away where her body was at the same time.

Soul stealers.

Kikyo.

Why was Kiyko here? What did she want with her? Why was this happening?

Her dazed and confused mind drudged up a half-remembered hazy conversation in which Masa warned her. What had she said? The strange voice echoed in her mind and she thought she might have spoken it out loud but she wasn't sure. _"If you want to live, you will stay away from the dead priestess."_

"Shiko-san? Are you okay?!"

Something warm and living and strange tried to touch Shiko's arm. She didn't swat it away even though it felt unlike anything. She didn't have the energy to do anything except continue to move slowly towards the mountain. Towards where the soul stealers were pulling her. Towards where she shouldn't go, for she had jewel shards and that was in the direction on Naraku. And the direction of Kikyo.

"Stay back, that woman in clearly possessed!"

A different voice this time. Different, but still strangely familiar.

"But she's ill!"

"You shouldn't touch her! That's a powerful possession going on! Her soul is traveling!"

"But she's ill and she saved us! We should-!"

"No, don't go there! It's that dead woman!"

Shiko could barely walk anymore, she kept flying out of herself. The soul stealers flew on ahead, and with them went her sight and her voice, but not her body. She collapsed onto the hard cold ground and she reveled in the fact that she could still feel the pains of her body.

And her mind flew.

She flew towards Kikyo, flying with the soul stealers and a few others that she could not name. Was her soul leaving her?

Her mind cried out and she tried to scramble back, away from Kikyo, away from the soul stealers, away from the cliff face that she knew so well. Away from the arriving figure of Naraku.

Her eyes were outside of her body.

She could see her own body. She lay sprawled at the edge of the forest, where the stone began and the earth ended. Two people were following her, only they were a while back and should have been obscured by the trees. A small green toad and a young girl in orange. They weren't moving very quickly, not as quickly as the other person who approached from the other direction.

There was Kikyo, the person that she could see and that she was trying to get away from. Kikyo was standing on the edge of the precipice, her body outstretched as she faced someone. Someone evil. Someone she knew by name and reputation and by a face that she had seen on a computer screen. Naraku. Was this when Kikyo almost died?

She saw Kikyo be thrown into the chasm, swallowed up by miasma and she rejoiced at the feel of the tugging on herself stopping.

But she couldn't return to her body. She didn't know how to. She just stayed, an apparition that none saw and that just could watch. She didn't know if she could speak, and she didn't know where her voice would come from. Surely it would come from her mind, not from the collapsed figure that she vaguely knew to be her physical body?

A figure clad in white stepped towards Naraku and she saw the villain leave.

Shiko began to fade.

_And then she was flying. _

_Or was it falling? She couldn't tell the difference. She was falling into something. _

_Was it a room? It looked like a room. Only it was all white and there were people everywhere. So different from the feudal era where people didn't show up that often. People were lying down nearby and people were walking past. Shiko could see the blurry details come into focus. _

_There was a person, lying in a bed that was all white. And red. Why was it red? Was that blood? Why was there blood? Oh… this was a hospital. That made sense. It looked kinda familiar though, reminding her of the hospital that she had went to for her annual check-up. Sitting by the bed were two people. A woman with dark hair and a man dressed in military-esque clothing. They were on opposite sides of the bed, as if they didn't get along or disliked each other. They were crying. _

_Shiko didn't want to look at the bed because she knew these people. _

_She knew them very very well. She had seen that same head of dark hair pouring over a clipboard, those same hands stirring dinner over the stove, that same face smiling whenever Shiko brought home a report card full of A's. She had seem the same man teach her to start a fire, adjust her hands over the handle of a sword, seen him try and hide confetti the day before her birthday. She didn't want to think about why her divorced parents who hated each other were sitting beside a hospital bed and crying. She couldn't remember the last time she had seen her dad cry. _

_And still she didn't want to look at the person in the bed. _

_She didn't want to see herself. But she looked anyways because she couldn't stand not knowing. _

_There she was, lying in the bed, her right eye beat up and wrapped in bandages, her lip cut and swollen, her cheek bruising purple and blue and yellow. Beneath the sheets, she could see that her chest rose and fell at odd intervals, without the steady beat that marked a heavy body. The machine next to the bed beeped. _

_Beep._

_The sleeping – unconscious – figure breathed in and out and in, her eyes twitching as if in a dream state. _

_Beeeep._

_The girl breathed again. Shiko's mother smoothed a lock of hair over the girl's head, such a loving gesture that it made Shiko want to cry as she watched. _

_Beeeeep._

'_I'm here!' she wanted to yell, but she had no voice, only eyes. 'I'm alive!' she wanted to cry, but her voice didn't come and she had to subject herself to just watching as her mother cried over the unresponsive girl that wasn't Shiko anymore because Shiko was elsewhere. _

_Beeeeeepppp._

"_Shiko-san!"_

_The voice didn't come from anywhere. It came from back. Behind Shiko. It came from the same place that she had fallen from. Could she go back there? There must still be a connection if she could hear voices._

"_Oh my god! InuYasha, it's the girl I was telling you about! The one from my world!"_

"_Can't be… this girl is dead."_

"_No! Shiko-san can't be dead! She saved me before!"_

"_The girl has no heartbeat."_

"_Sesshomaru-sama, can't you bring her back though?! She saved me, and Jaken!"_

_Shiko turned around. Behind her, she could see a crack. It wasn't a big crack, she didn't think that anyone else could see it, and it wasn't a crack in the wall or in the curtains, it was a crack in something deeper than that. It belonged to her, and she was the only one that could use it, she knew that in her heart. What heart? What was she? All she was… _

_She was just a bodiless soul._

_And then she stepped through space again._

_It was just a step, not a physical one, a mental one. But it was a step. She was falling again, falling or flying, but she was going somewhere fast, or going nowhere fast and she felt herself be pulled through space_.

And then she was back in the animated world.

She could see her body, she could see people around her, she could see and feel and hear but she wasn't part of her boy anymore.

Sesshomaru turned around, walking away. Rin was crying. Kagome looked sad. InuYasha didn't care. He was holding parts of a broken bow. Miroku and Sango were trying to console Kagome.

"Stop," Shiko said to Rin, hurrying to get back in her body, "Stop crying, I'm fine."

Rin looked right at her. Not at the body. Not at empty air. She looked at where Shiko could see from.

And then Shiko stepped into her body and breathed again.

She took deep heavy gasps of air, she rolled over onto her stomach and heaved as she couldn't get enough air into her lungs. Her fingers dug into the stone and her hands bled and it was magnificent because she hadn't been able to feel like this for so long. She wasn't aware of the looks of surprise that she was getting, or how Rin had permanently attached herself to Shiko's middle in a death grip hug. All she could think of was how good it felt to breathe.

Shiko coughed, because she couldn't breathe fast enough. Her heart calmed down somewhat and she relaxed the tension on her limbs somewhat. Her whole body was stiff, stiff and cold, even to her. Her skin looked almost translucent.

"Shiko-san!" Rin cried, "I'm so glad you're okay! Sesshomaru-sama said that you were dead but I knew that you couldn't be!"

Shiko sat up slowly, prying Rin's arms off her, "I'm fine. I really think that I'm fine now."

Kagome rushed over to Shiko and helped her to right herself, "You're name is Shiko, right?" she said, "Are you really okay? We…" she glanced down at looked over at InuYasha, "_I_ was worried. When we arrived, you had already collapsed."

Rubbing her sore eyes, Shiko managed to stand up, "InuYasha," she said to the hanyou, because she knew how much pain it would cause Kagome if he continued on as depressed as he was now. She glanced down at the bow in his hands, "Kikyo is still alive," she said, as calmly as she could considering the fact that she really didn't want to interfere too much. They had found out that she lived soon after this anyways, it wasn't really a major spoiler. She refused to accept the fact that she was still dizzy and not thinking clearly. And Kagome looked so _hurt_.

"What?!" InuYasha demanded, "She's alive!?"

Shiko nodded, "Yes. Only she's injured. So um…" oh, what had happened? "She won't be around for a while to go now. Sorry about that. But at least she's still alive."

"She's alive…" he muttered.

"But you," Sesshomaru said coldly, "Were dead."

Shiko turned to look at him, her blue eyes locking onto his amber ones. Why did he have to bring that up? "No I wasn't." she said sternly, "I was very much alive, thank you."

"Actually," InuYasha said slowly, "You weren't. You smelled… dead."

Kagome dint glare at him, but her voice grew sharper, "That's impossible," she said, as calmly as she could manage, yet still cold and soft, both at the same time.

"There was no way for Shiko to have resurrected herself, and yet she is clearly alive and well," Miroku added peacefully, "Although I admit that I am also very curious as to how or why she was believed to be dead, the evidence speaks for itself. She is alive," he held up his hands in a diplomatic gesture when Sesshomaru glared at him, as if it was Miroku's fault for claiming that he had been wrong. Miroku quickly turned his eyes back to Shiko, "Since we have determined that Kikyo is still alive, and thus there is no reason to pine after her memory, might I bring that topic of conversation up?"

"What the heck are you saying?" InuYasha frowned, and folded his arms across his chest, still holding the broken bow, "If you got something to say, say it! Don't try and spare my feelings or some emotional crap like that!"

Miroku gave him a fleeting and still charming smile, "Much appreciated. I think that the matter of Shiko-san's unfortunate state of being has less to do with life, and perhaps far more to do with souls."

What did that mean? Shiko's brow furrowed in concentration as she tried to think about what that meant. She had never been a religious person, and she had only attended church once for some stupid Easter thing with a friend, and she had never really understood the concept of a soul. From the bits and pieces that she could gather, a soul had always seemed like a person's life force. The thing that made someone who they were, the part that science didn't explain so very well. "What are you saying?" she asked, "You think that this has something to do with my soul?"

The monk nodded, "Yes. The soul stealers, how we heard your voice come from out of your body, your state of almost death, and the well-known fact that Kikyo attracts souls to animate her body, all point away from your state of unconsciousness being a physical death."

"If you want to live, you will stay away from the dead priestess," Shiko muttered under her breath. Damn that Masa. She didn't know how and she didn't know why Masa didn't out right say it, but the older woman had known that this would happen, or something like it anyways. Shiko stood and reached into her pouch, her head swimming as the blood poured to her brain and making her dizzy, "I see," she said, loud enough to be heard this time, "I will be off then," she held out the jewel shards, still separated from her skin, "Here, Kagome."

Kagome smiled and picked the two shards out of Shiko's hand, "Thank you very much," she said kindly, "It is a welcome relief to get the shards from one who will willingly part with them."

Shiko felt an invisible force lift from her hand as soon as Kagome touched the now pure shards. "Trust me," she said with total sincerity and honesty, "It is a huge relief to get rid of them." And the only person in the whole freaking world who might have an idea of how to get her back home refused to tell her anything as long as she had the shards. That was another big motivational factor.

"And what'll you do now?" Kagome asked her as she tucked the jewel shards into a small glass bottle, "I can't believe that you would just go back to our time. Will you investigate what happened to your soul?"

Shiko nodded, "There's someone who can give me information. I…" she sighed as she remembered Masa's words, "I'm going to have to look for her though. She isn't the sort of person who lets anyone take the easy way out."

Rin smiled, "Shiko-san, if you're going to be looking for someone, then you should come with me and Sesshomaru-sama! He's looking for Naraku, and you could look for your friend at the same time!"

Shiko was at a loss for words. What could she say to such a young child? Surely an explanation along the lines of 'sorry I won't interfere with canon' wouldn't go down to well. "I don't know…" Shiko said indecisively, "Maybe just for a day or so."

Kagome gave Shiko a hug – Shiko almost jumped from the surprise of being hugged by a fictional character. "Tell me when you're planning on heading back to our Tokyo and I'll go with you, okay!" she instructed cheerfully, "Or when you get through the well, just leave a message at the shrine and I'll find you the next time I go!"

Shiko nodded, "Sure, that sounds really great!"

"Come on Kagome," InuYasha said, "We need to be going. Naraku won't kill himself."

With a last wave, Kagome and InuYasha departed, Miroku and Sango following in their wake.

Once they were gone from sight, Rin grabbed hold of Shiko's hand, looking up at her and grinning, "Don't worry Shiko-san, I'm sure we'll be able to find this friend of yours real soon and then she'll be able to help you with your soul problems."

Shiko smiled and let Rin tug her back towards the direction of the forest, regretting letting herself be talked into this with every step that she took. Why oh why did Rin have to be so adorably cute and innocent and able to use bambi eyes? "I hope so too." Anything to get home quickly before she changed something that she couldn't fix.


	8. Is This a Metaphor Too?

S-S: I forgot to tell you guys last chapter, but I drew up a new cover picture for this fic! The link is on my profile if anyone is interested, and hopefully I will also be able to actually do a lot more art for this version.

I don't own InuYasha.

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><p>The small campfire flickered and burned, giving a reddish orange hue to the trees and using its meager light to illuminate the night woods. Grey blue turned to sunset in Shiko's barely blinking eyes as she watched the fire, her turbulent and fearful thoughts calmed by the slow and steady motion of the flames. She couldn't sleep. How could she? Somewhere, in some other universe, in another time, across the planet, her real body was lying in a hospital bed, struggling to hold onto life while her crying parents watched over her. How could she sleep here? After the out-of-body experience earlier in the day – or it might be yesterday by now, Shiko couldn't tell and didn't care to retrieve her pocket watch to check – she had been so tightly wound, so nervous and afraid.<p>

She didn't know what to think. Soul problems? How could she make sense of that? It didn't fall under the neatly formed categories of her science. It was something that she had entirely nothing to go on, no research, no teachers, no nothing. She was completely clueless. She hated being clueless. She was used to complete control and understanding of her surroundings, being able to interact with the natural world and technology as she pleased and able to understand everything that happened. She didn't like this feeling. She was so lost in this world.

But that wasn't even the beginning of her problems.

Who was Masa? What did she want with Shiko? Why did Shiko have to get rid of the jewel shards before her questions could be answered? How was it possible for Masa to be wearing modern clothes? Was the older woman able to use the well, the same as Kagome? If so, how did that work? Did the well only work with the Shikon shards or something like that?

Shiko sighed, tucking her knees closer to her chest and letting out a puff of cold air. She was grateful for the extra kimonos that she was wearing, and for more reasons than as a disguise. It was cold out, they hadn't quite left the mountains yet, so at the higher elevations the air was thinner and colder, especially at nighttime. The fire didn't do very much, although it did provide an excellent light source. Even with Masa, and the other worlds, and the soul thing, that still wasn't the most concerning problem at the moment.

"Tell me who you are," Sesshomaru demanded in that cold and calm voice of his, staring at her as if he could see right through her if she tried to lie.

Shiko was probably lucky that he hadn't questioned her until now. Rin and Jaken were asleep right now, but during the day, the little girl had happily chatted her ear off and had seemed to take to Shiko like a big sister or something. She stared into the fire, trying to avoid casting her gaze at him, and said as calmly as she could, "I'm Shiko. That's it. Shiko Higure."

"Your scent is human, yet the miko's soul stealers affected you, even though only the dead follow her call," he persisted. He never asked direct questions if he could help it, Shiko noticed, he seemed to prefer to figure things out on his own and then just confirm them when he wasn't one hundred percent sure that his theory was right or when he wanted her to elaborate on something.

Shiko nodded slowly, "Yes, but I don't know why Kikyo had that effect on me," she had a _guess_ as to why, but she wasn't going to tell him about her journey between worlds. The first rule that she had learned from fanfiction and TV was that one never told the secrets of the plot, "And we already covered that I'm not dead."

His gold eyes glinted dangerously, "And yet, I clearly heard you say 'If you want to live, you will stay away from the dead priestess.' A very clear warning."

Under her breath, she swore, although it occurred to her after that he probably could have heard her nonsensical English cusses. If his hearing was good enough to have heard her say that remembered phrase when she had been a ways away, then there was no way he couldn't hear her when she was only a few meters from him. She kept forgetting that the normal rules of physics and human limits didn't apply here.

"That was something this acquaintance of mine said. The one that I'm trying to find," she frowned, "And I don't know who or what she is or where she comes from. I don't even know her, so don't ask me! She's just some crazy who might be able to help."

"I see," Sesshomaru said simply, giving away none of his thoughts, "Why did you destroy the bridge?"

Shiko blinked, "Oh, the bridge from when Suikotsu…? Um… how to explain… it's pretty complicated…" how could she explain it really? And yet, she knew that if she did not or could not answer, Sesshomaru would not trust her. She wasn't sure yet why that was important. Probably because Rin would be sad if Shiko left all of a sudden.

He frowned at her, "I am quite capable of keeping up with 'pretty complicated'."

"Oh, yeah." She didn't mean to insult him, but how… "Well… it's kind of like this… Had I not been there, what do you think would have happened back there?" Rin would have fallen and gotten kidnapped. Like she really expected him to give that answer.

The look her gave her made it clear that he was severely questioning her intellect, "Jaken would have incinerated him."

She shrugged rhetorically, "Maybe he would have died, maybe he wouldn't have. But you're right, Jaken would have used the staff of heads. And that would have burned the bridge and caused it to collapse. So if I hadn't been there, the bridge would have been destroyed. How could I argue with that sort of logic?"

He raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment on that subject anymore, choosing instead to ask a question that was actually probably worse, "And your… weapon. It had the sound of a canon and the speed of a demon, yet it fit easily into the palm of your hand and the smoke had a similar scent to that of the western gunpowder. Such a weapon would allow very few to conquer much in a short period of time, yet this is the first I have ever seen of such a thing."

"I can't say much about it," Shiko said, trying to limit how much information she gave out, "but it's a unique weapon and I have the only one. There won't be armies carrying them if that's what you're interested in," not yet anyways, the armies would come later.

"Will it remain that way?" he inquired. Damn him for being intelligent.

"Let's just say," she said, as vaguely as possible, "A weapon like mine won't even be able to be put in mass production for a long time, and the separate components would be a mystery to anyone but me," although Kagome might know a little, "so there's no chance that someone could re-create it without my help." If someone even tried, they would probably be unable to create the modern and more stable version on gunpowder used in most bullets without blowing themselves up.

Sesshomaru simply nodded. It made sense why he would want to know about her gun actually. If he was a warlord, then why shouldn't he get the inside scoop on what must seem like the latest human breakthrough in technology since people discovered that sulfur and saltpetre didn't mix very well. Haha, that was funny, get it? Because that was the original version of gunpowder, and this was the future stuff? Funny, right? Shiko leaned her hand on her hands and mentally swatted herself upside the head for her bad humor.

"Why is your sword 'made in Japan'?" Sesshomaru asked, jolting Shiko back to attention.

She blinked, and then followed his gaze to the handle of her sword. Sure enough, in tiny letters that were probably no biggie to read if one had demon eyes, there was a little 'made in Japan' stamp. As if people didn't know that already from the fact that it's a freaking Japanese sword. And a good quality one too, Shiko paid over a thousand dollars for that blade, and it hadn't failed her for two years of training with her dad and all her crazy cutting off the heads of giant snakes and stabbing Suikotsu in the neck and- _wait a minute_!

"But- but that's-" Shiko sputtered, "But that's written in English!" she protested. How could he read the English writing!

"Why so it is…" he commented snidely, "I can read English."

Shiko blinked in shock again, "Oh yeah?" she asked, switching back to English, "And can you speak it as well?"

"Better than you can, I dare say," Sesshomaru replied, in _freaking perfect English_.

"Please," she replied, rolling her eyes, "You might speak a more grammatically correct version, but English was my first language, and I can safely say that I am more fluent in it than you are," Anyone who challenged her proficiency in language was going _down_, animated demonic character from feudal japan or not. She prided herself in her language skills, and she could safely say that they were top-notch, thank you very much and stuck up demons aside.

He smirked, "So you were born and raised in England," he said, with an annoyingly self-satisfied tone, "As, quite obviously, a street urchin."

Shiko glared at him – which was like trying to challenge a kettle to a 'who's the blackest' competition – and retorted, "Maybe you're just jealous that I am a linguistic prodigy." Okay, she wasn't actually that good and her and her arrogance knew it, but damn it, nobody called her a street urchin and got away with it unscathed. She changed to French this time, hoping to throw him off, "And I am no urchin."

Ha! Take that! Bet he couldn't speak French-

"You must have done some traveling. How did you end up in Japan of all places?" Sesshomaru asked. In _French. _Of course, the word 'japan' was in Japanese, because France didn't have a word for the country yet, but apart from that…

Shiko practically growled under her breath. She switched to Russian this time, "I could ask you the same question!" she demanded, loving how the naturally angry tone of Russian really added a whole 'nother layer of anger to her words, "Your name is clearly Japanese, but you speak other languages fluently! Explain that, huh!"

He just seemed to become amused by her pointless annoyance, "Muscovy as well?" he countered, in _Russian _as well, damn him, "And I have traveled before," he switched back to Japanese, "You should be more quiet." His gaze flickered to Rin's calmly sleeping form before he turned back to Shiko.

Shiko sighed and quieted down. She didn't want to wake up Rin either. The poor girl didn't have a demon's speed and stamina and since even Shiko had been tired, Rin must have been exhausted. They had been walking all day. "Well maybe I just traveled a lot," Shiko muttered. It wasn't a lie, not really. She had traveled, but the real reason was the open internet and people's willingness to share languages, as well as the fact that the whole world was discovered and there weren't any lands that people didn't know about.

"Perhaps," he said, "Although I doubt that is all there is to you. As soon as we reach the next human town, leave."

"What?!" Shiko demanded, "Why?! I'm not a threat to anyone! Rin likes having me here! I don't see what the problem is! I answered all your questions! I'm just some traveler! That's all I am! A traveler!"

Sesshomaru turned and walked away, "You are lying," he said calmly, although there were hints of anger in his voice, "There is far more to you than meets the eye and you are hiding things."

"You don't know that!" Shiko replied. He couldn't prove that! She had been careful, she had a fine cover, she didn't give anything too suspicious away. There was no reason to believe that she was anything more than a traveler, well versed in language and with fighting skills. That was all there seemed to be to her.

"You made a mistake," he replied harshly, "An ordinary traveler would not have been able to place a name to Jaken's staff. You called it the staff of heads."

And then he vanished, leaving Shiko to just gape at empty air and at her own carelessness. She had slipped up.

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><p>Shiko got no sleep that night. This was getting way out of hand, she was getting too involved, too concerned, and too important. Maybe it was a good thing that Sesshomaru was making her leave, because if he had allowed her to stay, she didn't know how much she would have messed up the plot. She couldn't change things, she knew that. Maybe a few bad things did happen, but it all worked out in the end, right? She was just some girl who ended up here on accident, who was she to argue with the way things were supposed to go?<p>

This wasn't her world and she didn't belong here. She should stop pretending otherwise and focus on getting home.

That was the way things were supposed to be. It was amazingly wonderful to see this world, this different time, and the people here, meeting characters that she had only ever seen on screen. But that was it, just like a temporary vacation. If she got careless, she would end up hopelessly tangled in the plot, and everything could change for the worse because of her.

It was difficult though, to break away. Rin was like a kid sister that Shiko had never had, and was twice as attached.

Sesshomaru had left to go somewhere, Rin and Jaken either didn't know or never asked him, and Shiko had about as good a guess as they did. It did mean that they were taking a break from traveling, like having a vacation day, a welcome relief from the constant walking, even though Shiko thought that none of them save Sesshomaru had any idea where they were going.

It was a nice sunny day, and they were far enough from the high mountains that it was warm and the air was a little more humid. White puffy clouds drifted lazily through the sky, never thick enough to block out the bright yellow sun. Rin had easily convinced Jaken to join her in the river, where they were supposed to be catching fish, but there was a lot more splashing going on than actual catching, and every so often a shriek of joy or a squawk of indignation would come from the river.

Shiko sat with her back to a thick tree trunk, trying to meditate. She needed to think, she needed to calm her mind and she also wanted to try and get a feel for the thing that was her 'soul'.

Meditation had never been quite her thing, but she found that it did wonders when she wanted to concentrate on an issue. After the incident with her soul, she was quite certain that she didn't want to ever be that helpless again. She had to learn to control the way that her soul moved, so she could stop it from leaving her body whenever Kikyo was around. Besides, if she was really that unstable, who was to say that Kikyo's presence was the only trigger. If she wasn't careful, she could go flying out of her body for the simplest of reasons.

For not he first time, she wished that Masa was here, or that she was able to find the elusive woman. Masa seemed very wise, and while Shiko wouldn't say that she definitely trusted the older woman, she felt that Masa had no reason and no desire to betray Shiko's trust. If anything, going by the way that Masa had sought out Shiko, encouraged her to ask questions, and given her a warning that could have saved her life, it seemed as though Masa was trying to _earn_ Shiko's trust. Masa had promised her answers, and now that Shiko wanted them and had gotten rid of the jewel shards, it seemed impossible to find her. Hadn't Masa said that she would make it easy to find her again? Shiko must not be looking in the right way.

Shiko sighed and leaned back, trying to slip into a state of semi-consciousness. _The key to meditation is to relax the mind_, she reminded herself.

"Shiko-san! Shiko-san!"

Shiko lazily opened her eyes, looking at a soaked Rin who was grinning from ear to ear. In her tiny child's hands, she held a big squirming fish, "Look Shiko-san! I caught one!" she exclaimed enthusiastically.

"That's great Rin!" Shiko called back, a smile working its way onto her face despite her previous state of calm and her determination not to get involved. Rin just made her smile for some reason. "You caught such a big one too!"

Rin's eyes glowed with happiness as she waded over to the bank and tossed the fish onto the grass where it flopped around pointlessly for a while, "Ne, Shiko-san?" she asked, tilting her head adorably as she spoke, "Why aren't you getting wet as well? The water's great and really warm and nice and there's tons of fish and you're probably way better at catching them than me and Jaken are!"

Fiddling with the kimono shroud over her head, Shiko mulled over her best options of reply, "Well…" she said slowly, "I suppose I don't really want to get my clothes or my belongings wet."

With a shrug, Rin padded back to where Jaken was floundering, "I guess that makes sense. Maybe that's why Sesshomaru-sama never plays in the river either. Adults always think ahead too much…" she smiled anyways, "Maybe you can join us later if you want to!"

Jaken's head popped out of the water, "I say good riddance!" he squawked, "Sesshomaru-sama doesn't trust you and neither do I! You're a stupid human!"

Shiko frowned, "Wait, let me guess… Sesshomaru told you to watch out for me, didn't he? Am I really a threat Jaken?" she asked, "If I really wanted to kill you and or Rin, I could have done it ages ago. Fact of the matter is, I really don't want to get on your bad side. There's no real point to it." she said with a shrug.

Jaken didn't stop glaring at her, "And that's the problem with human women, they always think that they're right!" That said, he dived back into the water on another desperate dive for a fish.

"I don't think that's right," Rin said sadly, sitting down on the bank of the river, "Why would Sesshomaru-sama not trust you, Shiko-san? You seem really nice and kind and you've never hurt me or Jaken and you saved us from that man on the bridge. I trust you."

A tiny part of Shiko's heart turned to mush at that last statement. She smiled and said calmly, "He doesn't trust me because to him, I do not make sense. I am an unknown, and he's right not to trust me if he doesn't know anything about me. And of course, there's no way that I'm going to answer the questions that he has and he's never going to trust me until I do, so there you go."

"Why don't you answer his questions? Do you not know the answers?" Rin asked curiously.

Shiko shook her head, "No, it's nothing like that. It's just… if I answer truthfully… bad things might happen." How did she explain this to Rin without giving anything away?

"Oh," the little girl's head dropped down and she frowned, "Can you answer my questions, Shiko-san?"

"Depends what you want to ask me," Shiko replied.

Rin turned to face her and smiled, "Do you have a surname?"

Nodding, Shiko replied cheerfully, glad to get a question that she could answer, "Yeah, it's Higure!" she smiled and tugged her kimono shroud lower down on her head, keeping her hair covered.

"That's really pretty!" Rin said, "Where do you come from? Do you have family? How old are you? How come you're here and traveling? Are you also trying to recover the Shikon jewel? Have you met demons before?"

Her mouth agape for a moment at the sheer number of questions, Shiko tried to process everything that Rin had just asked her. Glad that they found a topic that Shiko could actually speak on, she answered, "I come from somewhere really far away, like so far away that it doesn't even exist on a map. I'm seventeen, but I will be turning eighteen in about a month. I'm not really interested in the jewel, and I'm not like Naraku or anything. I've never met demons before. I'm here because… because I suppose that I want to be. I'm traveling to find my way back home. And I have a mother, and father, and an older brother, although I don't really like my brother very much."

Rin rested her chin on her hands, "Wow, you must have been everywhere, huh? If you can't find your home… Is that why you're looking for that friend of yours, because they know the way back home? Do you really want to get back to your family? I wish I had a big family like that…"

Shiko said slowly, "I don't know if I can get back home. My friend might be able to help me, but that's really the only chance I have, although I think… that if I can learn to control when my soul leaves my body… I might be able to find my way back," he mind drifted to when she had been floating invisibly over her body. She had to get back before her condition took a turn for the worst.

"This friend of yours must have a lot of maps," Rin said matter-of-factly.

Shiko laughed, "Oh, it's not about finding it on a map!" she knew where her home was on a map better than anyone in this time, "Sometimes… even if you know where a place is on a map, it's harder to get back to than you might think. There may be things baring your way back."

"Like mountains?" she asked, clearly not understanding what Shiko was trying to say, "Is there a mountain that you have to cross before you get home?"

Shiko just chuckled again, "Rin, let me teach you about metaphors…"


	9. Boredom, Insanity, And a Mix of the Two

S-S: This chapter was a bit smaller than I would have liked, but oh well. I promise that the next chapter will be longer. On a separate note; I shall have to murder my father. I showed him Howl's Moving Castle and when I asked him what he thought of the animation he said it was terrible! Terrible?! An outrage!

I don't own InuYasha.

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><p>In the shadows of the castle it was difficult to make out images and shapes, but that did not matter a bit to the demonic inhabitants. Naraku could easily see the shape of his only trusted servant, Kanna, as the tiny white girl stood in the doorway, the meager light glistening on the surface of her mirror.<p>

"Naraku-sama," she said quietly, "There is someone here who wishes to see you."

Naraku frowned, "Demon or human?" he asked. Rarely did someone who he did not know arrive at his castle. Kikyo of course, she came and went as she pleased, or at least she had back when she was alive. Now that she was dead, there was no one else who could break the shield surrounding his castle, certainly none who could do so without alerting him. Who had managed to enter the barrier unannounced? And who was there that did not try to attack him on the spot, and instead decided to kindly request an audience.

"Neither," said someone behind Kanna.

The white girl did not look surprised, she merely stepped out of the way and allowed the stranger to enter the room. It was a man, short white hair and red eyes, dressed in peculiar clothing. He wore a white coat that wasn't a kimono and wasn't made of any material that Naraku had ever seen before. In a way, it reminded him of that girl Kagome, with her strange clothing and appearance. "Hello Naraku," the stranger said peacefully.

"Who are you?" Naraku demanded, rising to face this man. Who on earth was he, and what did 'neither' mean? Was he a lower kami or spirit, or just another demon who happened to find a way to erase his presence and so thought himself to be above others?

The stranger seemed to find that question amusing, "Well now, that's really a question isn't it? Unfortunately I can't answer it. I can't answer any of your questions. Yet, that is. If you would remove that hunk of jewel from your person for the duration of our conversation, I would be happy to answer any questions you may have. Oh, and you should know that I can't lie to you and am not allowed to harm you."

The jewel shards? Now what did that have to do with answering his questions? Too curious to ignore the situation, Naraku retrieved the almost completed jewel from his kimono and held it in the palm of his hand, "Is this a foolish attempt to steal the Shikon-no-Tama from me?" he asked lightly, searching the stranger's eyes for signs of a lie.

The stranger laughed, "Sorry, that was a question! I shouldn't answer it, but…" he smirked, "whatever. I have absolutely no intention at all to steal the jewel shard from you," he glanced over at Kanna, "Oh, and if you want to talk to me, you can't give the shard to that little incarnation either. It would still count as yours."

"Alright," Naraku said slowly. He casually dropped the Shikon shard onto the floor, letting the dark jewel clatter to the ground and roll to a stop at his feet. "Now," he said coldly, looking back up at the stranger, "Who are you?"

The stranger thought for a moment, "Well, that's a rather difficult question. I can't tell you my real name of course, but I suppose an alias would work… Call me Ichirou," he paused, "And I meant what I said. I am neither demon _nor_ human."

"And why are you here?" Naraku demanded, "How did you manage to enter my barrier? What do you want?"

Ichirou grinned, "I'm here to help you out."

Naraku raised an eyebrow, "In exchange for what?" he asked. No one would offer 'help' for nothing in return, not even this peculiar stranger. Besides, Naraku liked being in control of the situation. He liked to make his own deals his own way, not to agree to the terms and rule of another.

"Nothing," Ichirou said with a casual shrug, "Although if I think of something I'll be sure to tell you. Let's just say… I want to make things a little more interesting." He smiled oddly, like he didn't really know if he was cheerful or not, "You see, you're all playing a game. You don't know it and you never will, but to people like me, it is nothing more than a game. You find a jewel shard and people attempt to stop you. For you, I'm sure that you take it very seriously and I suppose that's a good thing. But for me, it's just like watching a fun game. Only sometimes…" he paused, "Things don't happen the way they're supposed to. Stray elements enter the game. They make the game more fun to watch."

"I don't care," Naraku said harshly, "Either strike your deal or leave my palace. I'm not patient and I'm busy."

Ichirou sighed and stuck his hands in the pockets of his coat, "Oh very well," he said, seemingly dejected, "I have some very interesting information for you. Regarding Suikotsu's killer."

"Suikotsu's killer?" What more was there to say on the subject? That Sesshomaru had disposed of him after the disaster on that bridge. Of course, there had been nothing to confirm it and Jyaktosu had been the only witness and had died before he said anything on the subject, but that had been what Naraku had always assumed. There hadn't been another option. Had there?"

"Yes," the stranger said cheerfully, "A girl, human. A stray element. You saw her before, when you, ah, 'disposed' of Kikyo."

The girl that had died? Naraku barely remembered her, she had just been a nobody, someone of little to no importance and she had died that day anyways. Probably a human that had come to the sacred mountain and then gotten killed by one of the many demons that had come out of the mountain. Her soul had been taken by the soul stealers before Kikyo's demise. "A dead girl. Of little importance," he said sharply.

Ichirou simply shook his head, "Not dead. Not dead here, and not yet dead there. But she killed Suikotsu and she is still alive. Ignore that hanyou InuYasha, she is potentially your biggest threat."

"How weak do you think I am?" Naraku demanded, cold anger burning through him at that poorly veiled insult. How dare this stranger insinuate that a mere human weakling of a girl could pose a threat to him? Enemy of his though the hanyou may be, even InuYasha could kill the girl with a single swipe of his blade, and Naraku would have even less trouble if he wanted to kill her.

The stranger held up a hand, "Please," he said exasperatedly, "You are not all powerful. _I_ could kill you without even trying. While she couldn't… that is not the point I was making."

Naraku boiled silently in fury, "Then get to the point," he snarled.

"The point that she is dangerous as an enemy," Ichirou stated calmly, "The knowledge that she contains would be enough to greatly hinder your plans, if not stop them completely. Fortunately for you, she has wisely chosen to remain silent."

Knowledge? Now that was interesting. The threat that InuYasha posed was his brute strength, the same with that little entourage of his, yet Naraku had always known that it was himself who held the upper hand when it came to intelligence. That was perhaps what made Kikyo and now Sesshomaru greater threats, the fact that they solved problems, they did not simply bulldoze their way through like InuYasha did. If he was fighting one who's weapon was information, then everything got far more complicated than he would like. Naraku cast a curious glance at the stranger, "What sort of knowledge does this girl possess?"

"The kind that you wouldn't think of in your wildest dreams," Ichirou said with a grin, "Unique knowledge. Well…" he paused, "Actually, there are others with this knowledge."

"Others?" Naraku demanded.

Ichirou shrugged, "Yes. There are three. Me, _her,_" he spat out this last word like it was detestable, "And this human girl, who is named Shiko. But don't worry. Shiko is the only one who can speak about it, so there is no reason to worry about others talking. We _can't_. Count yourself lucky there."

Who was the second person, this woman that Ichirou seemed to hate? Even though apparently she was not a threat – and Ichirou apparently could not lie – and therefore should not be an issue, Naraku was still curious. He liked knowing everything, and disliked it when there were pieces of information outside of his reach. "This girl, Shiko," Naraku said slowly, a plan forming in his mind, "Can she be persuaded to join forces with me?"

That grin spread across Ichirou's face once again, "Ah, I knew it was the right decision to speak to you. Yes, she is human and easily susceptible to many things, persuasion being one of them. Although she will be hesitant to speak with you, I suggest that you send your incarnation Kagura to speak to her. Send Kagura many times over a long period of time with gifts of a sort and eventually Shiko might begin to be close enough to Kagura that she will be willing to speak with you in person. When that time comes, tell her that you have a way to get her home. Then, she will tell you everything."

Naraku smirked, "How typical of a human. The base desire to return to a 'home'. How easily exploited."

Ichirou turned and walked out of the room, "By the way," he said over his shoulder, "It would be a very good idea to not mention to anyone that you ever spoke with me."

As he left, Naraku noticed an interesting pattern on the back of the stranger's coat. It looked rather like a cross between a diamond and a star. How peculiar. A mark like Naraku's, that the stranger could not get rid of no matter what. "Why are you helping me?" Naraku asked, "You gain nothing from this."

The stranger didn't turn around and said slyly, "Because I'm bored."

* * *

><p>The dark wooden walls were old and wet and still reeked of must and soot from fires. Huge barrels of gunpowder and explosive materials lined the walls and were piled up to the top of the high roof, tucked away in corners and shoved onto shelves. Bulky canons and a heavy guns were stored on large racks that were stationed in the middle of the storehouse. The castle a few kilometers away had been stockpiling weapons here for a long time now, going by how much weaponry there was.<p>

The scent of blood from the guards who had been stationed outside filtered into the room, potentially interfering with Sesshomaru's tests. He sifted a clawed hand through a barrel of gunpowder, trying to pick up the same scent from the weapon the girl Shiko had used.

This gunpowder was different, it smelled of saltpetre and sulfur, like how all gunpowder smelled, whereas whatever it had been that she used was different. Normally, he would not care. Human weapons were beneath him and there was no reason for him to pay attention to whatever discoveries they made. However, _this_ human was different, a puzzle that he intended to solve. She had said as little as possible and had avoided answering his questions whenever she could.

He ripped the lid off another barrel and lifted up and handful of the black powder. No, this wasn't it either. What had that scent been?

And that wasn't the only thing wrong with her either, there had been other peculiar scents on her as well. From the pouch on her hip there was the smell of lead and acid, placed next to some human food of hers. And although it was difficult to tell because she covered her head, her hair smelled vaguely of some sort of chemicals, like she had bathed in them.

Sesshomaru opened a barrel of explosive powders. Nothing.

He turned to the racks of guns. None of these was the same that she had used, or even looked like it. Yes, her weapon was clearly a gun of sorts, same function and there was still a trigger that caused the bullet to be fired, but hers was tiny compared to these. All of these were much larger and from the little he had cared to learn about human weapons, guns were barely accurate at all and one rarely hit anything at a range of more than a meter. Yet again, Shiko had managed to hit Suikotsu in the leg from a good distance away. _Twice_, in fact, so it hadn't been mere luck that had caused her to hit the target.

She claimed to be nothing more than a traveler, but that was so obviously a lie that Sesshomaru wondered why she even bothered. Although he wouldn't call her 'skilled' by any means, it was easy to tell from her movements that she had practice with a blade and knew how to fight. And her knowledge of languages and the fluency with which she spoke them, she must have been taught by someone very knowledgeable. She could fight, she could kill, she was literate and could blend in to almost any country by speaking the language as if she had lived there her whole life.

Sesshomaru frowned as he considered what this might mean. It was beginning to seem as though Shiko herself was more of a weapon than her strange gun was.

This should not worry him, human lords were always attempting new ideas of how to train a perfect assassin or a perfect soldier. It only made sense that rulers from overseas would have the same ideas and would send a trainee to this country to learn the language. And yet, that could not be all there was to this girl.

Perhaps the most obvious reason for suspicion was that she was female. Most soldiers, even overseas in other countries, tended to be exclusively male and he could not see such special training being given to a woman. The only place he knew of that even trained woman was that demon slayer's village that was now destroyed, and not only had there been no survivors, but none from there had been learned in the art of language. The second reason was her lack of motive or objective. She rescued Rin, tried to prevent the jewel shards from falling into Naraku's hands, apparently befriended the miko Kagome, and was currently searching for a friend. There was no reason behind her actions, it was more as if she was honestly concerned with doing the 'right thing'.

But his final reason was the most incriminating. How did she know the name of Jaken's staff?

Had she been studying demons? Or was she trained specifically to fight Sesshomaru himself? Again, that pointed in the direction of his theory that she was a trained assassin. However, the simple fact that she had made that mistake dimmed that theory. Humans were easily fallible but one trained in such a manner with such detailed knowledge would not make that mistake. And they would not fail to notice their slip, like Shiko had.

Who was she?


	10. A Gift of Peace From Naraku

S-S: Sorry for the wait, I was in Disneyland. Is that even a valid excuse?

I don't own InuYasha.

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><p>Shiko was learning to fly.<p>

The cold night air brushed around her face, the darkness made it difficult to see things with clarity when she did not stand next to the fire. She had left Rin curled up against Ah-Un near the fire, Jaken awake and trying to keep watch but it had been obvious that he would soon succumb to sleep. Shiko could feel the solid earth beneath her sneakers, she could smell pine and the forest, her fingers still were wrapped around the hem of her kimono shroud.

And at the same time, she was tumbling over the tops of the trees, flying and falling in an attempt to stay airborne and move, resisting the tug her body gave.

It was like there was a string connecting her soul to her body, and if she tried to go too far, the string would pull taunt and her soul would snap back to her body. Shiko knew well how to push the range of her soul, she had done the same with muscle strength and flexibility. If she could only fly a little farther every day, then her range would increase.

It was so strange to be out of her body and yet still connected to it. She turned her soul around so that she could see her body standing alone in the clearing. She moved her hand and watched with a strange fascination as her empty body moved its hand as well.

Then she tried to take a step forward, but that was too weird.

Her mind protested and her soul snapped back to her body. "Rats…" Shiko muttered under her breath. It was so difficult to move her body when her soul was flying. She supposed that seeing her body move when she herself was indirectly controlling it was simply too difficult for her brain to process and thus that confusion broke the state of mind that she had to be in when she left her body. On the plus side, even if she didn't move at all, she could step out of her body and use the soul-eyes she had to see the land for a good distance around her.

Shiko stepped forward, trying to once again leave her body. But she sighed as her soul only gave a twinge of movement before settling back into her body. She was too preoccupied to focus on such a concentration-heavy task.

Sesshomaru had been gone the whole day, which led Shiko to wonder where he had gone, and if it had anything to do with her and her most unfortunate slip up. How much did he suspect of her? Would he really force her to leave at the next human town? Despite her promise to herself to not affect the plot, Shiko had to admit that not only was she getting attached to Rin, but also that traveling with Sesshomaru would be the perfect way to look for Masa without having to trudge through a whole backwater of lesser demons like the giant snake she had encountered previously.

Speaking of Masa… could Shiko really trust her? It was obvious that Masa didn't come from this era, her clothes were very twenty-first century. Did she travel through the well? Or was Masa someone like Naraku, a trickster?

"Only one way to find out…" Shiko said with a sigh, "Ask her when I find her…"

Shiko turned around, intending to return to the campsite where Rin and Jaken were. A gust of wind blocked her path.

From the sky, a figure dropped gracefully onto the ground and straightened up, facing Shiko. It was a woman, dark hair and red eyes, dressed in an elegant kimono with her hair tied up and secured with a few white feathers. The person bowed respectfully, "Hello Shiko-sama," Kagura said as a greeting, "I am Kagura."

Kagura?!

Shiko stepped backwards out of surprise, "You-?" she stuttered, confused, "What are- why-?"

Why was Kagura here?! Was this some trick of Naraku's? Why send Kagura? He didn't trust her, he knew that she would betray him in an instant, there was no reason to send Kagura. Shiko's hand reached to the handle of her sword, ready to fight because she knew that Naraku was the enemy and Kagura still worked for Naraku and that had to be the reason Kagura was here, because Naraku must have found out that it was Shiko who killed Suikotsu and-

Shiko's hand dropped.

She couldn't kill Kagura. Shiko glanced at the red eyes of the demoness and didn't see her standing there right here and right now in the night, Shiko saw her bleeding to death in a field of flowers. "Why are you here?" Shiko managed to ask, her voice sounding far too kind.

If Kagura was surprised, then she didn't show it. She bowed her head in the manner one would do in the presence of their betters and said respectfully, "I bring a gift of peace from my master," Kagura placed a wooden box on the ground and knelt down to open it. Inside were two gleaming metal sai, the handles wrapped in silks and the metal made of something that glowed softly.

The sight of such beautiful weapons almost made Shiko gasp. Reminding herself that this was Naraku she was dealing with, she narrowed her gaze and stared at Kagura, "And why would Naraku send me a gift?" she demanded.

Kagura shrugged casually as she straightened up, "I really don't know," she said, "After all, what could a lowly human possibly have that Naraku would want?" she flicked out her fan and added, "Either way, it would seem you are his most recent project. Poor you."

"Yes…" Shiko muttered to herself, "I am just a lowly human…" she looked back up at Kagura, "Tell Naraku…" What could she really say that wouldn't get herself killed? "Tell him I said nothing." Yes, nothing was a safe enough answer, at least, one that could be interpreted in whatever way that Naraku wanted.

Reaching into her bun for a feather, Kagura replied, "I'll tell him. But I don't think that he'll leave you alone you know. He never leaves threats alone, and if you aren't already an ally of his… then you're a threat," she didn't look terribly concerned and gave one last bow to Shiko, one that was more laced with sarcasm than respect. "Have a good night… Shiko-sama,"

"You as well… Kagura," Shiko said slowly, still trying to puzzle her way through this, "And Kagura… I'm sorry," she said quietly, a thought that she probably shouldn't voice but one that felt like the right thing to do, "Wind deserves to be free."

For a moment, Kagura simply stared at her with the most confused expression of her face. Then she simply huffed and a gust of wind picked up, carrying her away on the giant feather.

Shiko waited a moment, watching as Kagura zoomed out of sight and vanished into the dark sky. "What the hell was that about…?" she muttered, walking over to the box that Kagura had left on the ground.

She leaned down and examined the delicate metal weapons that Kagura had left behind. Kagura had been so confusing with her words that Shiko was still trying to figure out exactly what she had said and what she had meant. She had called Shiko 'Shiko-sama'. Why the honorific? It was clear that Kagura had no real respect for humans, and Kagura had not exactly been very kind when calling Shiko a lowly human.

And the 'gift'… from Naraku. A gift of peace. What did that mean? Why would Naraku try to make peace with Shiko? And for that matter, there had been no real bad blood between them either. All Shiko had ever done to him was kill Suikotsu and that was more self-defense than anything, the only encounter the two had ever had was when Shiko had stumbled after Kikyo and almost died. That wasn't a real reason for a peace treaty. Besides, Naraku didn't make peace treaties. He didn't do deals with people he openly disliked, he killed them. Especially a lowly human like herself. Shiko had no reason to be alive right now if Naraku considered her to be an enemy.

Therefore, he was trying to… what exactly? Persuade her to join forces with him? Unlikely though it may have sounded in Shiko's mind, that was the only direction all the clues were leading.

"But…" Shiko thought out loud, still staring down at the pretty and confusing message that was the gift of the sai weapons, "Why would a powerful demon like Naraku attempt to persuade me to become his ally?"

Shiko was not important.

Although she would like to consider herself special, she knew at heart that when it came down to it, she was just a weak and ordinary human. Sure, she could fight okay and she had a gun, but that was not reason enough for Naraku to go to the length of having one of his personal servants hand deliver a gift of peace to her. Also, if it was her minimal fighting skills or her gun that Naraku was after – unlikely though that option was – why would he not simply possess her with a jewel shard?

Maybe… he wouldn't do something that would mess up Shiko's mind? She was intelligent after all, but still that didn't make sense. In her confusion, she entirely missed the obvious simply because she deemed it impossible.

Shiko looked again at the weapons, trying to place sense on this.

The metal wasn't like normal metal, she noticed. It was duller and greyer, and while it held a sheen of metal, it seemed to glow with demonic power more than anything. For some reason, the metal or fake metal looked familiar. Shiko reached towards the two weapons and then stopped, her hand falling back to her sides. She did recognize the metal.

It was bone.

An image came to mind. Princess Abi with her right arm blown off after Naraku had decided to take back the trident he had gifted her with. Best not to touch.

If Shiko was like the bird Princess Abi, just a pawn of Naraku's, then why didn't he just show up and possess her or whatever? Maybe… what he wanted was not something physical, not a fighting skill or her gun or even her soul – the only other option she could think of. Maybe it was something that he could not take from her. But what did she have that was useful?

What intangible precious object did she have that was worth Naraku going to all this trouble to make sure that she was on his side-?

Information.

"Oh god," Shiko choked out, her hands clasping around her open mouth and her eyes wide, "Oh dear god _he_ _knows_."

Somehow, some way, Naraku knew about the knowledge Shiko possessed.

A deep shiver of cold fear ran down her spine. Her hands began to shake. She knew all too well what Naraku was capable of doing and she knew that he had to be stopped and now she was aware that he knew of the knowledge she was determined to keep secret. This was her worst fear since entering this world, that someone would find out what she knew. She had thought Sesshomaru would be the first to find out and wasn't too bothered by that because he was intelligent and would know that there were things Shiko couldn't say without changing the future to the point of no return. Naraku on the other hand… he was not only capable of getting that information through torture if he had to – although Shiko knew that torture was unreliable – but the things he could do with knowledge of the future were devastating to even think about.

What could she do? It wasn't as if she could fight Naraku and win, she knew far better than that. And she wasn't going to tell Naraku what she knew. To do that… even if it meant she lived… it was just something that she could never do. If she did, she would not be herself anymore.

All she could do was hope that Naraku didn't take any drastic measures soon and hope that Shiko found Masa very quickly. But in the meanwhile, she sure as hell was not going to accept any gifts from that spider.

She leaned down and picked up the wooden box with the pretty and no doubt deadly weapons and shut the lid. "Okay…" she said, mostly to herself, "Naraku thinks he can buy me huh? Thinks he can get me to be on his side?" she pulled her arm back, "Know what I think of that, Naraku?"

"FUCK YOU!" she screamed in English, throwing the box with all her strength.

The box flew across the clearing and smashed into a tree. The wood crumpled like paper, shards of wood flying everywhere and sharp splinters of metal or bone littering the ground.

"Okay…" she said, breathing heavily, "Naraku knows. Someone must have told him. So I have more than one enemy. Great. And I can't get home." She swore violently and buried her head in her hands, trying to persuade her body to stop shaking and stop being so afraid. There was nothing that she could do. Nothing at all…

And things were going badly for her. She had thought at first, that she could stay out of the way and not get involved and not change the plot for the worst, that she could walk through this world without leaving a single footprint and she had thought that she could get home. But now, Naraku knew. "How the hell does Naraku know?" she muttered to herself, "Oh this is soo not good. Naraku knows… very very bad…"

"Naraku knows what?"

Shiko knew that voice a little too well, and the owner of the voice happened to have an annoying habit of picking out the most threatening tidbits of her conversations. Speaking of which, she really should not have been speaking out loud.

"What do you want Sesshomaru?" she said tiredly, turning around to face the white demon.

He glared at her with barely concealed annoyance. "I will not repeat myself. Answer the question."

"Why?" Shiko demanded, "Why do I have to answer? I don't need to explain myself to you!" She couldn't and she wouldn't and she had no reason to give him any answers at all! "I don't need to tell you anything! Isn't it enough that you're going to kick me out at the next village we come to? Do I need to make things worse than they already are?"

A clawed hand clenched in anger, "You clearly hold something of importance to Naraku. If I do not get the answers I seek from you I can always demand them of Naraku. If whatever you have is of such importance to Naraku I am confident that he will gladly give me answers if I hold your life hostage," Sesshomaru said, the words a punch to the face.

Shiko felt hot tears running down her face and cursed herself a thousand times for letting them fall and for letting herself become so emotional. "You wouldn't dare!" she yelled, "I am not on Naraku's side, I'm an enemy of his!"

"I am unconvinced of that," he retorted haughtily, "It is clear that you are on relatively good terms with the wind witch who is an incarnation of his. And Naraku obviously desires your help."

She glared at him through her quickly drying tears and said viciously, "You're an idiot to ever think that I would be on Naraku's side! I hate him! You have no idea how I've hated him for all the things that he's done!" All the things that she had seen him do on her computer screen and then called herself foolish for getting so worked up over an animated character. "And just because I did not attack Kagura on sight doesn't make me her best friend either!"

"Then why did you not attack an ally of Naraku's?" Sesshomaru said, using cold hard logic that didn't seem to make any sort of dent in Shiko's emotions.

How could Shiko explain why she didn't fight Kagura? Because she knew that the wind witch was against Naraku as much as they were and that all she had desired in her whole existence was freedom? Because Shiko remembered Kagura dying? "Because not everyone has an ice cube for a heart like you do," she spat instead.

Sesshomaru remained unconvinced and unaffected by Shiko's angry outbursts, "Your opinions of me are irrelevant, I asked you what it was that Naraku knew that was so important. What does Naraku want from you?"

"I've no intention of telling you," she said, looking down at the ground and clenching her trembling hands, "I'm not going to cause damage. I promised myself that and I intend to keep my promise."

"My previous threat still stands," he calmly reminded her.

Shiko sighed and bit her lip in fear and confusion because for all her talk about not causing damage she herself had no idea what to do. She was just lost. "You won't. Naraku wouldn't tell you anything more than I will. If you knew what I had that Naraku wanted, you would want it as well. There isn't a single person that wouldn't." Even kind hearted people like Kagome would want her knowledge, although they would be more polite about it and would not demand answers like Sesshomaru had.

That did not seem to matter all that much to him. "In that case," he said, cracking his knuckles menacingly, "If you do not give me the answers that I want, I can always kill you."

"You won't," Shiko said again, stepping towards him, "You're not going to kill me. It's the only thing that's kept me alive at all, from both you and Naraku. Everyone wants answers, but I'm really not going to give them."

He snarled and glared at her, amber eyes burning with annoyance and the desire to crush Shiko like a bug because she dared to defy him, "You think you can save your pathetic human life with reasons like that?"

"Maybe," Shiko replied honestly, "It's the only chance I've got at continuing to live in this world after all. Besides, I am the only one that can give you the answers you want and if you kill me you will never get them." She hated making enemies, but Sesshomaru was too damn stubborn. "I promise that I'm not a threat and I will never join up with Naraku. Just please, let it go."

"Tell me what it is that Naraku wants from you," Sesshomaru replied, "And then if I am satisfied, I will 'let it go' as you say."

That was as good as it was ever going to get. "Fine," Shiko said reluctantly, "I have information that Naraku would kill to get his hands on."

"And what exactly is this information?" he asked, raising an eyebrow curiously.

Shiko huffed, "I thought you said that you would let it go!"

"After I was satisfied with your answers," Sesshomaru corrected smoothly, "Now answer the question."

She crossed her arms, "Weren't you listening? I said I would never tell anyone. The information that I have should never exist in this world, even me… _I_ don't belong here and I can't leave a lasting mark on this world. I must walk without footprints," she said, the quote from somewhere drifting up through the dregs of her mind. She couldn't remember where she had first heard that quote from and at the same time she thought it might have been from her father. "This information would do more harm than good. I would say trust me on that except you really wouldn't."

There was a long pause, deep silence that had Shiko cursing her luck for everything that had happened to her. Ending up in the animated world, meeting Sesshomaru, having Naraku find out about her most treasured secret- although she still was unsure as to how much exactly Naraku knew.

"… Very well," Sesshomaru said at last, "I am satisfied with your answers for now."

Then he turned and walked back to the camp, leaving Shiko alone. Again.

Why did she always have to make Sesshomaru more and more suspicious of her? She really was on his side, but it never appeared that way.

* * *

><p>Far away, there was a village. It was small and tiny. A heavy moon hung in the sky and lit up the stars with light. A small glimmer of light fell onto the wooden roof beams of a small storage house, one that had coincidentally been ransacked a few weeks ago by a person that the villagers had mistaken for a demon.<p>

With no warning, no flash of light, no puff of smoke, no preamble of any sort, a figure appeared and silently opened the door to the storage house.

The figure was dressed in a heavy black cloak, one with a hood that cast their face in shadows. The person walked through the small and dusty room silently, leaving the place perfectly undisturbed, without even a single grain of dust having moved. A boot nudged a sack of rice to the side, uncovering a strange bag that didn't belong in the era it was currently in.

The figure leaned down and a single gloved hand picked up Shiko's discarded book bag. They turned it over, as if to make sure that it was not damaged or not missing anything, looked back down at the floor one final time, and then the book bag disappeared.

Without a sound and without anyone moving it, the door slid shut. The moonlight fell on the object carried on the figure's back. A long blade that was sheathed in a scabbard painted with lacquer and carved with tiny intricate images of the gods. On the finely ornate handle, there was a single symbol, carved onto the flat bottom of the handle. It looked like a cross between a diamond and a star.

The figure turned on the spot and vanished, leaving behind not a trace.


	11. Humans Kick Ass (Sometimes)

S-S: I'm not dead! I know it looked like I was, but I'm not I swear! There was just a lot of stuff with school and I swear it won't happen again!

I also don't own InuYasha.

* * *

><p>Shiko drew the kanji into the dirt for the third time, "No Rin," she said with a sigh, "You have to look for what image it represents. Kanji are pictographic, which means that they are drawn to look like what they mean. See, doesn't the symbol look like a tree?"<p>

Rin stared at the kanji and pouted, "A bit, if I squint and do something funny with my eyebrows to make everything blurry," she said, collapsing off her elbows and planting her face onto the ground, "Why can't you teach me things that are fun Shiko-san?" she asked, in a tone that was more like a complaint than a question.

"Because," Shiko began, "Sesshomaru told me to teach you. Plus, you're illiterate." That might not be such a bad thing in this day and age, but where Shiko came from, if someone was illiterate, it generally meant that they would have no future at all. And well, Rin was clever. Shiko found it odd to say that since the girl was having such a hard time learning her kanji, but in truth, Rin had a very different way of looking at the world. She had understood the concept of metaphors very quickly after Shiko had explained them, and Rin kept trying to peg reasons and sense to things, the mark of an intelligent mind in the making.

Despite her utter lack of prior teaching experience and her hatred of giving explanations over and over again, Shiko wasn't finding it too hard to teach Rin. She might have even considered it fun if it weren't for the fact that Sesshomaru had practically ordered her to teach Rin. Shiko didn't like it when people gave her orders like that, she just felt the deep urge to disobey them simple to be contrary and rebellious. Even if it was something she might have done anyways, she just didn't like being bossed around, or at least, bossed around without a good reason and bossed around by Sesshomaru of all people who was getting dangerously close to figuring out all of Shiko's badly hidden and badly kept secrets. So sue her.

"Yeah, but you could still teach me fun things…" Rin pointed out, "Like… history, which is kinda fun when it's like a story… or not kanji… or that other not kanji thing…"

Shiko raised an eyebrow, "That other not kanji thing?" she inquired, "Do you mean the hiragana alphabet?"

Rin nodded happily, "Yeah! That looked easier," she said, resting her chin on her palm and using her other hand to rub out the kanji symbols that Shiko had drawn onto the dirt with a stick, "And there were less of them too," she added, as if that one difference was the deciding factor.

"Okay," Shiko said, picking up the stick again and beginning to draw the five basic vowels, "These are the vowels, the 'a' 'i' 'e' 'o' and 'u' sounds. With kana, each symbol, with the exception of those singular vowels there, is two sounds, a consonant and a vowel sound. So you make sounds like 'ka' or 'to'. And unlike kanji, there are only 48 characters."

Rin nodded her head, "That makes it easier to learn!"

"Well actually," Shiko corrected, "Kana are used only as grammar, where the kanji are nouns and adjectives."

There was a pause in which the groan of annoyance Shiko had been expecting from Rin did not happen. Rin blinked in confusion, "Shiko-san?" she asked, "What are nouns?"

Oh, Rin was missing so much basic information! Why oh why was there no sort of public school system back in feudal japan? "Okay…" Shiko said slowly, trying to think of the best way to explain it, "Nouns are words that are people, places, or things. Like 'cherry', 'Edo', or 'Rin'."

Rin nodded in comprehension, "And… adjecti- adjejace- adjasomething?" she prompted.

"Adjectives are descriptions. Colors, smells, and such like," Shiko explained, then moving on to the other basics that Rin had never covered, "There are also verbs. Verbs are action words, like 'run' or 'jump', words that tell what a person or animal is doing. And there are adverbs, which add information to a verb or verb phrase. Like 'slowly' or 'softly'. Those are different from adjectives because an adjective would be only 'slow' or 'soft'."

There was a puff of dirt as Rin's head hit the ground again. "I don't get it at all…" she muttered.

"Yeah, I don't really get it too much myself either…" Shiko said honestly. She got the difference between nouns and adjectives and verbs just fine, but adverbs were always a little screwy. And really, she spoke English as a first language and even she would probably fail a test on the material. She didn't care at all for grammar.

A few feet away from their lesson area, Jaken was sitting on a rock and pretending that he wasn't interested at all in Shiko's explanations when really he kept peeking over their shoulders to see what she was drawing in the dirt, "Hmpf!" he snorted in annoyance, "I don't see what you humans find so difficult about reading! Clearly neither of you had any proper upbringing!"

"Au contraire, Jaken," Shiko said, wagging a finger at him, "I find nothing difficult about reading. But learning and teaching someone else are two entirely different things. At least me and Rin didn't learn our characters off of a lily pad," she retorted, fully aware of how childish her insult was.

Rin giggled, "Don't worry Shiko-san," she said, reassuring her, "I think you're a great teacher!"

Beaming at the girl, Shiko replied, "Aww… thanks! I could feel my ego needing that."

"I disagree entirely!" Jaken squawked, frowning at the two of them – the effect was ruined by the fact that he had no mouth, only a beak. "All humans have low intelligence! I don't see why Sesshomaru-sama had a filthy human like _you_ teach Rin!"

Shiko opened her mouth in annoyance to retort some really bad comment about being green and stupid that may or may not have ended in 'your mom', but then her eyes narrowed dangerously and she asked darkly, "Are you questioning Sesshomaru's judgment?"

Before now, Shiko had not thought it possible to simultaneously have an aneurism, drop your jaw to the ground, and look around frantically to see if anyone heard that and if anyone was watching the horribly embarrassing display you were putting on. Jaken took that moment to prove her wrong, "I-gah-but-that-you-I mean- I would never- you- stupid humans-" he sputtered desperately.

Shiko grinned wickedly and shot a glance at Sesshomaru, who had been sitting pointedly away from the group and had been doing a much better job of ignoring them than Jaken had. And even now he still didn't look flustered or annoyed or even paying attention. Shiko huffed, "Anyways Rin, back to the subject of kanji-"

Rin groaned, looking as though she was in physical pain, "Please oh please can't you teach me something else Shiko-san?"

"Look, you really do need to learn how to read and write, those are very important skills…" Shiko trailed off at the puppy-eyed look of pleading on Rin's face, "Well maybe we can take a short break," she relented.

"Yay!" Rin cheered.

Shiko frowned as Rin got up and started to run around like a kid loose on sugar, "Short break Rin, _short_ break!" she called after her. Rin waved it off and Shiko sighed, wishing that she had some aspirin on her, "Oh, what I would not give for just one dose of ibuprofen…" she muttered as she sat up and tossed the writing stick to the side, knowing full well that Rin would not be able to sit still for lessons for the rest of the day.

She stood and laced her fingers together, cracking her knuckles pleasantly to get rid of the stiffness in her fingers. Rin had wheedled Jaken into playing a game with her, one that Shiko didn't know but clearly involved a lot of running around and pleasant shrieks from Rin.

"Hey Sesshomaru?" Shiko asked, "Could you tell me where we're going? We were walking all morning but I have no idea where we're headed and it's kinda annoying me," she knew that the whole 'visit the netherworld' arc was coming up soon but she didn't know when and she didn't know where.

He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, as if she wasn't important enough to gain any real attention, "After Naraku. Where else would we be going?" he replied scathingly.

But of course, Shiko could interpret that as what it obviously meant, "You know where Naraku is?" she asked, "Cause you know, if we really wanted to find out then I probably could ask Kagura if she ever dares to show up again." Having Kagura spy on Naraku for her when Naraku thought that Kagura was spying on Shiko sounded like the sort of confusing plot that would put a metaphorical bullet in any plan of Naraku's.

"The wind witch is not your ally," Sesshomaru warned her, "You are a fool if you think that you can count on any help from her."

Shiko glared at him as the image of Kagura and a field of flowers flashed behind her eyes, "In case you haven't notice, she's about as loyal to Naraku as you are." She turned around and stormed off, before adding, "And you could at least trust me enough to say where we are going."

With that said, Shiko crossed her arms in annoyance and walked off in the opposite direction.

"Ne, Shiko-san?" Rin asked, tugging on her kimono sleeve to get the older girl's attention, "Do you want to play with me and Jaken?" she smiled up at her, "It'll be fun!"

Shiko opened her mouth to reply when a loud scream echoed through the trees.

"What was that?!" Rin cried.

Another scream.

Shiko turned towards the source of the noise, "That sounded like a woman's scream!" she said, reaching for the handle of her sword, "Someone's in trouble!" she glanced back at Sesshomaru, "I'm going to help! Are you coming?"

He looked away, "It's just a human."

"Fine," Shiko snarled, running off to find the screamer, Rin following at her heels, "Then you can just fuck off!" she yelled as she ran.

There was another scream and in a minute, a young woman in a kimono crashed through the trees, running blindly and tripping over the hem of her dress in her hurry to get away. There was a heavy bundle clutched her to chest and her dark hair was ripped out of a hair tie and wiping wildly around her face. Her scared eyes latched onto the figures of Shiko and Rin.

"Help me!" she cried out, desperately grabbing onto Shiko's elbow and hiding behind her, "There's- there's a bandit!"

A bandit? Oh that's right, Shiko reminded herself, in these days, there was no police force or any sort of protection for people. Bandits did whatever they wanted whenever they wanted, with no one to stop them.

There was the sound of crunching branches and movement and a moment later another figure pushed through the trees. It was a man, dressed in samurai armor but with a malicious look on his face, "Hey, another woman and a kid!" he said, reaching for his sword, "This'll be great!"

Now, in retrospect, there were a lot of things that Shiko could have done. She didn't want to kill this person of course, she really just wasn't the sort of person that went around killing people. But she could have hit him, punched him, broken his nose, broken his knees, slapped him, knocked him out with the handle of her sword, hit his head with the butt end of her gun, and a basic plethora of cool moves to take care of him. But Shiko was a city girl, and there was a fighting move so deeply ingrained into the mind of every city girl that Shiko really felt as though she had no other option.

She slammed her foot right into his crotch.

The poor guy screamed like a little girl and doubled over in obvious pain.

Shiko then stepped in and slammed the handle of her blade into the back of his head, knocking him out. Then she grabbed a piece of rope out of his pocket and dragged his body over to a nearby tree, tying his arms behind the thick wood and binding his fingers together oddly so that he couldn't untie himself later.

She dusted her hands off and stepped back, proudly surveying her handiwork, "Done!" she proclaimed, stepping back to the girl on the run and Rin, "'Just human', psssshh..." she sent and vindictive glare in Sesshomaru's direction, "I kick ass…"

"Thank you very much," the woman said, bowing shakily to Shiko, "I owe you a debt, my lady. That bandit would have killed me and stolen this," she held her bundle tighter to her chest, "My father's sculpture. I could not have lived with myself if I had betrayed my father and allowed it to be stolen."

Shiko held up her hands, "No, wait, you have it all wrong! I'm not a… a lady, I'm just me. And you really don't owe me anything, I was happy to help beat that creep up," she almost held out her hand for a hand shake before stopping herself in time, "And my name's Shiko by the way, Shiko Higure. What's your name?"

A look of shock came over the woman's and she hastily bowed again, "I am humbled that a lady of stature would ask this lowly one for her name. I am Junko, Shiko-sama."

Rin giggled, "I like it. Shiko-sama and Sesshomaru-sama!"

Now this was really getting out of hand, "Look, I'm not royalty or anything!" Shiko said, louder this time, "And don't add the honorific. It's nice to meet you Junko-san. This is Rin, by the way," she said, placing her hand on Rin's shoulder.

"I am honored," Junko said, "And please, Shiko-sam- Shiko-san," she ignored Shiko's moment of protest, "You must be a lady of stature, even if you do not wish it said. I have never seen a woman other than one of noble blood be taught to fight or instructed in the way of the sword."

Yes, that did make sense. Women were not taught to fight at all, only female servants of important ladies or in some cases those important ladies themselves were taught to fight with their hands and allowed to learn how to wield a blade. But still, Shiko didn't like Junko giving her a title that she did not deserve, "I am learned in the way of the sword, but I am not of royal blood or a servant of one," she corrected, "And by the way, where were you headed before being attacked by that bandit?" she asked.

"My home village is over the mountain there," Junko said, pointing to a not-so-tall mountain a little ways away.

Shiko grinned slightly as she thought of how annoyed Sesshomaru would be if another human traveled with them. "If you want, me and my group can escort you there. That way you and your father's sculpture will be safe if more bandits attack us during the trip."

Junko looked slightly scandaled by this, "But Shiko-san, I couldn't take advantage of your hospitality!"

"Come on Junko-san!" Rin said cheerfully, grabbing her hand and tugging her in the direction Shiko and her had come from, "It'll be fun. You seem nice! I like you!" Thus Rin had pronounced them friends for life and Junko had no choice but to go alone with it.

The sneaky grin didn't fade from Shiko's face.

"Sesshomaru," she said as soon as they got back, "This is Junko-san. She was attacked by bandits and is going to be staying with us until she gets back to her hometown, which is over that mountain there," she helpfully pointed in the direction given to her, "And Junko-san," she introduced the now even more scared woman, "This is Sesshomaru and… oh, that's Jaken. Don't worry about them. Even if they're demons, they won't do you any harm."

No harm so long as Rin kept clinging to Junko's hand like a kitten with a new toy.

* * *

><p>There wasn't that much of an argument over Junko temporarily joining them.<p>

Shiko and Rin didn't mind at all. It was nice for Shiko to talk to a woman her own age, especially one with such a different idea of the world and how life worked. Like history class only way more in depth. And more accurate. On the other hand, Rin was just glad for someone who was perfectly willing to play with her. The little girl mentioned more than once about how unfriendly Jaken could be and how 'Junko-san was way funner!'

Jaken grumbled and complained a lot, and Shiko suspected that he might have even been a little bit jealous about Rin finding a new friend that wasn't him, but he was like that most of the time. So the only one who paid him any mind was Junko, but only because she was still a little worried about the fact that she was traveling with two demons.

And surprisingly enough, or not surprising at all, Sesshomaru didn't protest at all. He didn't seem to care, really. Rin liked Junko and Junko tended to stay quiet and all of them knew that the new addition was only there until they got her back to her home town. If Shiko didn't know better she would say that Sesshomaru was a bit melancholy, but that seemed like a silly thing to say.

Like the saying goes however, it's all fun and games till someone gets hurt.

Unfortunately, that someone happened to be Rin.

Junko gave instructions for a path over the mountain that would get them there in give or take three days. On the second day of walking – walking at a normal human pace, Shiko made sure to remind Sesshomaru – it began to rain.

Shiko and Junko got a bit chilly, but Shiko had her regular clothes which were fabulous modern things that kept cold out plus a kimono on top and a kimono to keep her head warm. Junko pulled a straw hat out of her large bundle and used that to keep the rain off her head. She wore probably four kimonos, one on top of the other, so Shiko didn't worry at all about Junko staying warm.

And Rin was made to put on a coat. Only she stopped wearing it after a while and instead decided to jump around in puddles with Jaken and made a game of it.

The next morning, she was running a fever.

"Shiko-san," Rin said, sounding most pitiful, as she tugged on the sleeve of Shiko's kimono, "I don't feel very good."

The little girl did look feverish. Shiko placed her hand on Rin's forehead, and then on her own, "Rin," she gasped, "You're burning up! You've got a fever."

"Am I gonna be okay?" Rin asked, her eyes watering.

Shiko tried hard to think of any fever cures, "You'll be fine. The common cold goes away. Um… what feels wrong?" Practically sense could generally cure most ailments.

"Throat's scratchy. And I'm real tired."

"Okay… Damn I wish there was some chicken soup around here… I want you to drink lots of water, and I want you to try and stay warm. You can sleep on Ah-Un's back if you're really tired."

Rin grudgingly didn't play in puddles that day.

"Um…" Junko piped up nervously, "The miko at my village can probably help. She's very good at curing colds." Then she promptly hushed up and looked embarrassed that she had mentioned it at all.

"How far is this village?"

Junko looked shocked at being addressed by Sesshomaru, who had spoken very little if at all during the journey, "A day. Less, probably, if we go fast."

Sesshomaru didn't acknowledge that her had even heard her, but his pace increased noticeably and Shiko and Junko struggled to keep up. Rin curled up on Ah-Un and wore her coat the whole trip, a miserable expression on her face as she sneezed occasionally.

* * *

><p>About an hour before sunset, they finally cleared the mountain and arrived at Junko's village.<p>

"Welcome to my town!" she said with a smile as she led them to a cliff overlooking a bustling village. "Now, I can take Rin to the miko right away. We don't get very many sick people here, so the miko should be able to attend to Rin without a dely. Shiko-san, if you wish to come with me I would greatly welcome your company," she nervously addressed Sesshomaru next, "Sesshomaru-sama, I greatly apologize but-"

He turned away, "You don't need to give me advice, human. I am not so idiotic as to set foot in a human town." There was also a distinct air of 'and I don't want to be around humans at all' in his voice, but Shiko didn't tease him on it.

As Shiko helped Rin off Ah-Un, Sesshomaru caught her eye for a moment.

Shiko looked towards the town. The large, busy, noisy, _human _town. "Oh," she remembered, "I had to leave at the next human town."


	12. For the Best, and Worst

S-S: Happy April Fools to you all! And Happy Easter! I hope you guys enjoy this chapter and I didn't make you all wait too long for it.

I don't own InuYasha.

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><p>"Father!" Junko called happily as she opened the door to her small house, "Father, I've returned! I brought guests too!"<p>

An old man with a face full of wrinkles and deep smile lines hobbled over from the fire, leaning heavily on a cane, "Ah my dear, it is so good to see you again! Did you purchase my statue?" he inquired, gazing inquiringly at the bundle.

Junko nodded enthusiastically and placed the statue on the ground, "And father, this is Shiko-san and Rin-chan. They helped me on my journey back. Only… Rin-chan is sick now and we have to go to Hikaru-sama." She gave her father a quick hug around the waist before hurrying back to the other two, "Shiko-san, so sorry for the delay, I-"

"It's fine," Shiko said, before bowing to the old man. Rin tried to bow as well, but she almost tripped over her own feet and got dizzy.

Junko hurried out of the house, Shiko following her and Rin hanging onto Shiko's hand like the tiny child that she was.

The village was larger than Shiko would have thought, bigger than most of the small towns she had visited on her journey to Hakurei. A place like this one probably wouldn't have needed her anyways, a town big enough to have a priestess would also be big enough to have some sort of doctor or herb lady when the priestess was busy. But despite Sesshomaru's perfectly clear order ringing in her head like a painful headache, she could not see herself ever trying to settle down and live in a town like this.

Sure, it was a nice place, and Junko would probably have been ecstatic if Shiko told her that she needed a place to stay, but it wasn't a place for Shiko. She just wasn't suited to a small town life like the one now presented to her.

The people here also seemed to be highly wary of her, and it wasn't just because she wasn't from around here. RIn, no one looked at twice, except perhaps with the pity one would usually give to an un-well child. But the sight of a woman carrying a sword didn't seem to go well with this village.

The shrine where the priestess lived sat on the edge of town, tall stone steps carved into the side of the mountain that led up to a flat pavilion where the shrine rested.

Junko led them up the steps with a smile on her face, happy to simply be in a place of worship. "Hikaru-sama if very one and very wise," she said in a hushed and excited voice, "People say that the gods have blessed her with wisdom and insight as payment for her lifetime of service."

Shiko didn't care what Junko thought of the miko. If the old woman came anywhere near Rin with leaches, she would throw respect out of the window.

"I like miko," Rin said in a raspy voice that tugged on Shiko's heart-strings, "I've never met any, but Kagome-san is nice."

From inside the shrine, an old woman slowly walked towards them. She was ancient, and tiny, like a person who had shrunk one too many times in the wash. Her hair was long and grey and as wispy as smoke. But she walked with a straight back, even though her face was nothing but wrinkles.

"Hikaru-sama," Junko said reverently, sweeping into a deep bow, Shiko and Rin hurrying to show the same respect, "I brought two friends with me, one is sick and needs medicine."

The old woman turned to face Rin, "Hello child," she said in a clear sonorous voice, "Now what is it that ails you?"

"Fever," Rin said miserably.

Shiko elaborated, because even though she was no doctor, she knew that the more information one had to work with, the faster a cure could be found, "Rin was playing in the rain without a coat. This morning, she was running a high fever and complained of a sore throat."

Hikaru nodded, mostly to herself, "Dear me, that doesn't sound very pleasant. Come inside, please. I'm sure that with a few herbs and a good night's sleep Rin-chan will be as right as rain," she glanced up at Junko, "Ah, Junko-san, if you could ask around the granary for extra rice and deliver it here, I would be most grateful. Lugging around heavy rice is simply too heavy for an old woman's back."

Junko bowed again, "Of course, Hikaru-sama," she said without a moment of thought, "I will be back as soon as possible," she glanced at Shiko, "And I will be sure to pass that message on to Sesshomaru-sama." With that said, she hurried back down the steps to the main part of the village.

Hikaru held out a wrinkled hand to Rin, who accepted it kindly, "Please, follow me inside. I am sure it is much warmer than you are used to," she smiled up at Shiko, "By the way, I do not believe that I have heard your name?"

"It's Shiko. Higure Shiko," she said, remembering to place her last name first and her first name last. "It's a pleasure to meet you," she added respectfully as she followed the miko into a house beside the shrine where she assumed the old woman lived.

"And I am Kenbo Hikaru, the miko of this shrine," Hikaru introduced herself as, "And I already know Rin-chan's name here."

She led them into a house adjacent to the shrine, and instructed Rin to lie down on the bed near the fire. Shiko sat down nervously while Hikaru bustled around the shelves. This place seemed to be very well stocked with medicines, jars and bottles filled with pastes and liquids and boxes stacked with meticulously organized herbs.

After a moment, Hikaru ground a few leaves into some hot water that she got from the clay pot sitting in the fireplace.

Handing the cup to Rin, she added, "Drink it up while it's hot dear, that's better for your throat."

Obligingly, Rin drained the cup. When she had finished, she gagged, "Tastes nasty," she mumbled, "Too sour."

Hikaru took the cup back and chuckled, "As does all medicine dear, now try to get some sleep. There are no inns in the village, so if you like, you two can stay here tonight," she said, placing the cup back on a shelf and placing an iron pot over the fire.

She added bits of meat and herbs to the fire and after a few minutes, the small house was filled with the pleasant aroma of cooking dinner. When Shiko looked at Rin to make sure that she was all right, Rin was fast asleep.

"What did you give Rin?" Shiko asked, trying to keep her tone polite.

"A sleeping drought," Hikaru said, "And a few herbs to soothe fevers. I have found that the best cure for a fever is to sleep it off with a night of peaceful rest. The poor child must have been getting some bad sleep with a fever."

Slightly embarrassed, Shiko admitted, "Actually, she hasn't got any sleep at all since her fever developed. We had already met Junko-san by then and hurried to arrive here. I told Rin to rest on Ah-Un's back, but I don't think that she got any sleep." She wound her fingers into knots in her lap, feeling horribly as though this was all her fault.

"Ah-Un?" Hikaru questioned, and then some sort of realization dawned over her, "Oh, you have a horse?" she bowed her head to Shiko, "I understand now. You must be a noblewoman. Forgive this humble miko for not recognizing your stature earlier."

Why did people keep assuming that she was a lady or something? "No, look, I'm not a lady or a noblewoman or anything like that," Shiko outright denied, "Junko-san thought the same thing, but I'm, really not. I'm just a traveler, that's it. That's all I am." No matter what Sesshomaru thought. She knew that he didn't believe her story of just being a humble traveler. He was too clever for that, clever enough to see that she was keeping secrets.

"But…" Hikaru frowned, "You carry a sword. And you have a horse. And Junko-chan addressed your husband as '-sama'."

Shiko blinked, "…husband?"

The old miko's frown deepened, "Yes. Junko-chan said that she would be informing a 'Sesshomaru-sama' that you would stay the night. Rin-chan is your daughter, yes?"

"Wh-what?!" Shiko sputtered violently, trying to deny everything at once, "I-!? I'm so not married to Sesshomaru! I'm way too young for that! And I'm not Rin's mom either! I'm really_ way _too young for that!"

This time it was the old woman's turn to blink confusingly, "Oh? I'm sorry, I assumed that a young lady such as yourself would not be traveling without the protection of her husband, especially if you traveled with a child," she looked down at the peacefully sleeping Rin and asked, "If you are not the girl's mother, then are you her governess?"

Shiko shook her head, "No, I'm not. And Sesshomaru isn't her father either. Rin," her mind remembered a day when rain poured outside, and she had snuggled up in a blanket around her computer and watched the tiny human girl die, "Rin is an orphan. Her parents were killed by bandits right in front of her. Since then, she became mute and was taken in by the rest of her village. Eventually though, the village was attacked by demons. Sesshomaru ended up saving Rin's life. She learned to talk again and has been traveling with him ever since."

Hikaru gasped sadly, "The poor child…" she murmured, placing a comforting hand on Rin's forehead as if it might possibly help Rin forget her past, "Tales like hers are not unique these days, what with bandits and demons everywhere. Even so, it does not make such events any less painful."

Sadly, Shiko nodded, "I haven't been in this land very long, but it is shocking how dangerous and painful it can be to live here."

"Yes," the old woman confirmed, "Bandits… demons… warlords… sometimes even ordinary people. All become monsters and turn on the common folk. Violence is abundant. It is a sad time we live in. All people like us can do is try to perform small acts of kindness when it is possible. Things just seem to grow worse and worse as the years go by. I remember how easier life was when I was a girl."

Shiko was almost about to inquire about the old miko's life when she noticed that Hikaru looked over fifty and then she asked, "About fifty years ago, did things suddenly get worse?"

After a moment of confusion, Hikaru nodded, "Yes. Demons from everywhere began to act up again. Only in the past year have they begun to cease, only now… it is as if they flee to the farthest corners of the land. Even the foul demons are hiding from something."

Naraku. Low level demons certainly would run from him. "Don't worry Hikaru-sama," Shiko said calmly, "I am certain that whatever it is that the demons run from, it will not live very much longer."

The old woman slowly nodded, almost in a condescending sort of way, "Don't worry about this old woman, dear. I have accepted the way things are. Although, if you do not mind, would you tell me about yourself? As an old woman, I have developed a fondness for tales, and hearing the story of a not-noblewoman who carries a sword and travels with a man and child that she is not related to would be of great interest to me."

"Um… well…" Shiko tried, unsure of what to say and what not to say and how to say what she decided that she could say, "Like I said, I haven't been in this land for a very long time. I've been trying, trying for a long time now, to find a way to get home. Along the way, I met Sesshomaru and Rin, and since I was looking for someone and they were looking for someone as well, Rin just sort of persuaded me to travel with them."

Hikaru looked positively scandalized, "You travel around with an unmarried man? Good heavens dear, are you sure that was wise?!"

A choked laugh burst out of Shiko's throat.

"Oh, Hikaru-sama," she said, still faintly giggling at the mere thought of stoic, icy Sesshomaru ever acting like a normal human man, "It's simply not like that!" She struggled to contain her laughter and waved it off, "I don't think that Sesshomaru would ever be interested in someone like me!"

Cause she was _human_.

And for some stupid prejudice reason, demons always seemed to hate humans. There were exceptions of course. Sesshomaru and InuYasha's father, he had not hated humans. And understandably, InuYasha, although before he met Kagome he had seemed to hate _everyone_, InuYasha had showed no extra hate to humans, most likely because he was half human. But Sesshomaru hated humans in that stupid stuck up way of his, and with the exception of Rin, Shiko never saw his opinion change throughout the series. That was sad, in a way. Besides base physical differences, humans and sentient demons had always seemed to be rather similar to Shiko. Of course, it probably wasn't possible for humans and demons to ever coexist together like best friends or something, but if the two races only began to not instantly hate the other species on sight, that would be a great improvement.

"Well…" Hikaru said after a moment of thought, "If you're certain in your decisions, I have no right to second guess the choices you have made."

Shiko chuckled, "No, you have every right to be curious," and she supposed that in this day and age it was a very valid concern, "But it doesn't matter anymore anyways…"

"Whatever do you mean?" the old woman asked.

"Sesshomaru distrusts me," Shiko admitted, even though it sort of hurt her to say it. She wished that he could simply have a little faith in her, even though she knew how foolish a request like that was. But something told her that it would be a terrible idea to let anyone know about her knowledge of this world. "Rightly so, because he really doesn't know who I am. He demanded that I leave at the next town we came to. Which is this one."

Hikaru placed a comforting hand on Shiko's shoulder, "I'm sorry. I assume that Rin-chan will continue traveling on with this Sesshomaru of yours. You seem very attached to the girl," she let her hand fall, and added, "If you like, you are free to stay here at this shrine with me for as long as you need."

Shiko smiled, but could not keep faint glimpses of sadness out of her eyes, "Thanks for the offer, really, I do appreciate it. But I can't stay here. Like I said, there's a person that I'm looking for."

"The offer will always be open," Hikaru said with a smile, "If you ever are near this village, feel free to stop by. And I hope that you find this person that you are looking for."

"Thanks, but I don't think that I'll be near-" a thought dawned on Shiko, "Actually, I think there might be something you can do to help me, if you don't mind."

"Of course not dear," a puzzled Hikaru replied.

Shiko hurriedly asked, "Have you heard rumors of… well… a very strange woman? She might be a demon, or a witch, or a miko, or someone else entirely. But she would be very powerful and _very_ knowledgeable. Like… a woman who knows things about you that she shouldn't know. Or someone with power that regular people don't have." It was a pitiful description of Masa at best, but it was all that Shiko could do, seeing as how she didn't really know the woman or could tell if she was a demon or not.

Hikaru frowned and placed a finger to her lip like she was thinking heavily, "Well…" she said after a great pause, "I'm not sure if this would help you, but there was a rumor in town yesterday. They spoke of a wise mountain witch who lived to the east, in a town by a great waterfall. It may not be the person you spoke of… but it is all I have heard."

A mountain witch to the east. By a great waterfall. Shiko didn't know the description from the anime or the manga, which was promising, since Masa hadn't been in the original show either. "Thank you," she said truthfully, "That's a great help to me you know."

"I am glad that I could help you," Hikaru replied kindly.

* * *

><p>Shiko held Rin's hand as the two walked to the village's edge.<p>

After a peaceful night of sleep, it seemed as though Rin had fully recovered. Which meant that it was time for Rin, and subsequently Sesshomaru to leave. To leave without Shiko. To leave Shiko _behind_, which was in its own way entirely different than simply leaving without her. That little logical part of her mind told her that this was a good thing, that Sesshomaru was getting too close to figuring out who she was, that Naraku wouldn't be able to send Kagura if he didn't know where Shiko was. But still, even if Sesshomaru distrusted her, she _knew_ him.

There was something so scary about being surrounded by people that Shiko didn't know in a time that she wasn't from, looking for someone that she may or may not find. At least Rin had accepted her and Shiko knew who Sesshomaru was and that he probably wouldn't harm her. If she was a threat, then she knew he would kill her in an instant, of course, but he did have a sort of honor to him. Shiko wasn't harming Rin and so he wouldn't harm her. That didn't mean that he didn't want her out of the way. No demon would want a human that was potentially working for the enemy around.

As they neared the edge of the village, Shiko tightened her grip on Rin's hand without noticing.

Once they arrived at the base of the mountain where they had last seen Sesshomaru, Shiko let go of Rin's hand, "Okay, Rin," she said, "Now are you sure that there's nothing more you need from this town?"

Rin shook her head, "Nope! I feel all better!" she said with a grin.

"Rin,"

Shiko looked up to the gloom of the forest. There was Sesshomaru. It puzzled Shiko how he was always able to appear silently, like a ghost.

"Sesshomaru-sama!" Rin said happily, running up to meet him, "I'm all better now! This really nice miko called Hikaru-sama made me drink some really nasty medicine and I slept for a really long time but I feel fine!"

"Good," he replied tersely, before turning around and walking back into the forest, "Let's go."

Rin hesitated, looking back at Shiko, "But… what about Shiko-san? Isn't she coming too?"

Shiko paused, thinking about how she could explain to Rin that she wasn't coming any more. How could she tell the little girl that she had to stay here?

"No," Sesshomaru said simply.

A look of complete puzzlement came over Rin's face, because the little girl simply couldn't understand why. "I don't get it. Why is Shiko-san staying behind?"

Shiko managed to say, "I can't be trusted. Don't worry Rin, I'll be fine."

"But I don't want…" Rin said quietly, "I don't want you to leave…"

"I'm sorry," Shiko clenched her hands into tight fists and tacked a fake smile on her face, "But this really is for the best." She gave a quick wave to Rin and then turned on the spot, "Good bye Rin."

And then Shiko hurried down back to the town. The stupid, loud, noisy, busy _human_ town that she was supposed to belong in but didn't and as she hurried she found herself missing the company of the icy demon lord and that little human girl more and more.

* * *

><p>"I'm sorry dear," Hikaru said gently, patting Shiko's hand with the air of a person who had comforted others too often and had never been comforted themselves. "These things happen. It couldn't have lasted. Besides, a young woman like yourself shouldn't be traveling around in the wild. It will be for the best if you return to your home town and settle down."<p>

Shiko shrugged off her hand, trying not to offend the older woman but still trying to definitively tell her that she did not need the pity or the sympathy, "I'm _fine_. Sure, I'll miss Rin. That's it." With that said, she furiously swept the broom out of her hands. It clattered to the ground a few feet away.

Hikaru looked at the fallen broom and then at Shiko. "Yes, I can see that you're just _fine_."

Grumbling, Shiko picked up the broom and began sweeping away at the dirt again. She was doing a bit of work on the shrine for the day. When Higure Shiko got sad or mad, she did not become one of those mopey girls who sobbed their guts out, oh no, she liked to work. To do something physical, to punch something, to stab something. The walls of her bedroom at home were riddled with stab marks from her pocketknife. But… Hikaru had made Shiko leave her sword in the guest room, which she had done. She had left her gun and her small bag as well. It was a bit easier not to carry everything all the time.

"Glad you can see it," she replied under her breath.

Fine. Sesshomaru could force her to leave if he wanted. Shiko didn't need his help _or_ his trust. All she needed to do was get home, back to her world, and the only way she could do that was by following up on this lead from Hikaru. Find Masa, find a way home. Besides, it probably _was_ for the best that she leave. What with Naraku being on her trail and sending Kagura as a peace maker of all people, Shiko was like a magnet for bad situations. And she just _knew_ that if she had ended up staying, Sesshomaru would have figured out her little secret and demanded that she tell him. And then… well… even if there were a few deaths like Kagura's along the way, everything had worked out in the end. Shiko didn't want to screw things up when she had no right to do so.

She already had a plan in her mind. Yeah, take that Sesshomaru! A plan already made, now who was the boss?! Sesshomaru and Rin had left earlier in the morning.

It was late afternoon now, the sun streaking down across the evening sky, burning everything into red. Shiko took a moment to lean on the broom and stare at the sky. It was beautiful. From the high point of the shrine, she felt as though she could see the world from here, even though she knew that the world was far bigger than what little of it she could see. The village was in a valley, and as the sun dipped down on the horizon, it touched the tips of the mountains, like a brush with a drop of molten paint. The mountains glowed with the light of the setting sun and covered the village with a beautiful wash of color.

Tomorrow morning, she would pack a bag of everything that she might need for a long trip. Even though Shiko could do just fine on her own, she knew that Hikaru would probably insist on giving her extra food and Junko would probably do the same. In the morning, Shiko would leave this town, and head to the East, to search for this woman who could be Masa.

Masa had said that she would try and make it easy for Shiko to find her again, but it wasn't really easy at all.

Damn that woman.

If she wasn't the only chance that Shiko had of getting home, she would slap that woman upside the head. Masa was just so confusing. The way that she encouraged Shiko to ask questions but then never answered them properly, the way she had listed off those rules at the start of their conversation, and the way she had _known_ that Shiko's soul would be dragged off by Kikyo's soul stealers. It was almost like she thought that she knew Shiko better than Shiko knew herself, which was almost unbearably annoying. But at the same time Masa conveyed this attitude of being in on some huge secret and was bursting at the seams for someone to ask her about it, just so that she could deny them. Or maybe it was simply the fact that everything Masa had said to Shiko had been so frustrating.

Shiko sighed and almost ran a hand through her hair out of habit.

Instead, her fingers fiddled with her bangs as she resisted the urge to take off the kimono that covered her hair, just so that she could tug on her ponytail. Keeping secrets was too hard.

"Shiko, dear," Hikaru said, holding up a small pot of some sort of sticky looking ointment, "Could you take this to Junko-chan and tell her that it's for Kazuo-san? She'll know who that is."

"Sure…" Shiko took the small pot, leaning the broom against the wall of the shrine.

Giving Hikaru a quick wave over her shoulder, Shiko hurried down the tall shrine steps. She remembered enough to know where Junko's house was, a smaller hut on the edge of the village.

The people seemed to be a little more accepting of her the second time she entered the village. Maybe it was the distinct absence of a sword, or maybe it was the fact that they had seen her before. Hikaru might have even spread the word that Shiko was going to be spending a day or two here, it wouldn't be strange for news to spread quickly in such a small town.

Junko's place was easy to find, because the place smelled like clay.

She knocked on the door twice out of politeness, even though she didn't know if people knocked in feudal Japan or not. After a moment, Junko opened the door.

A smile worked its way onto her face once Junko realized it was Shiko. "Shiko-san!" she bowed, her messy hair flopping over her head like a mop, "Is there something that I can do for you?"

Shiko awkwardly held out the pot of ointment, "Hikaru-sama asked me to give this to you. It's for a…" she struggled to remember the name, "Kazuo-san. I have no idea who that is, but I guess that you do." That came out sounding more like a question than a statement, but Junko nodded anyways.

"Sure!" she said cheerfully, taking the pot out of Shiko's hands. She turned around and called inside the house, "Father! I'm stepping out for a moment!" she stepped outside and added, "Feel free to stay here for a while!"

Shiko nodded hesitantly and wandered inside the house as Junko disappeared out into the street.

Inside the house, it was a lot quieter than the street outside. There was a noticeable smell of dust and wet clay, like the thick blocks of stuff that the sculpture teachers ordered in bulk. In the back of the house, she could see the hunched form of Junko's father. He leaned over a flat stone, bone thin fingers working tiny details into a clay cat.

Not wanting to disturb him, Shiko sat down a little bit farther away, "That's really amazing," she said after a few minutes of watching the man work.

He smiled at her, "Thank you child. Have you ever tried artistry?"

Shiko nodded, glad for a topic of conversation that she could actually contribute to. Conversation that didn't focus around the fact that she refused to tell people anything about her secrets. "Yeah," she said, feeling better and happier already, "I went to an art school actually, although I painted, I didn't sculpt."

There was that slow and steady nod from him that Shiko had only ever seen on the faces of an older person, "Ah, a girl of skill."

Shiko opened her mouth to reply.

But she never got the chance.

That was when the first screams started.

The streets outside were filled with the loud whines of horses, the screams of men and women, heavy thuds as things hit the ground. The ground cried as sharp things cut at the soil. Something heavy was destroyed and wood groaned as it was split in two. More screams, and there was a permeating smell of smoke. Shiko jumped to her feet, feeling her heart pounding in her chest as she yelled at Junko's father to stay where he was.

She ran to the door.

Men on horses. A dozen or more, some dressed in the armor of samurai, some wearing rags. The glint of metal shone bright in the light of the flames and the sun. The horses whinnied, a sound that sounded more like a war cry than anything else. Women screamed, grabbed children and ran. Men grabbed simple farming tools. Before Shiko's very eyes, a horse kicked through a house, destroying the building. One of the samurai men threw a flaming torch onto the wreckage.

Junko came hurtling past, her face full of fear and outright terror.

"Shiko-sama! Father!" she screamed, pausing for a second in the doorway to grab onto Shiko's arm, "Bandits! The bandits from before are back!"

And then a man rode by, and in a second, Junko's head was cut from her shoulders.


	13. Through Fire and Flames

S-S: I would like you all to know that I am going to be at San Jose's Fanime con! Going one day as Vincent from Pandora Hearts and the other day as Konan from Naruto. If any readers are going to that con, tell me in a review and I would love to meet you there!

Yeah. This chapter. Probably closer to M rated than T. And Shiko swears a lot.

I don't own InuYasha.

* * *

><p>Shiko didn't scream.<p>

In retrospect, she probably should have. Junko's headless body fell to the ground and blood splattered Shiko's clothes, painting her in a bright crimson red. She was too afraid to scream. Screaming required a conscious thought, and she was out of those at the moment, her mind filled only with the sounds of the death and destruction around her. Out of sheer instinct, her hand dropped to where she should have kept her sword.

But her fingers fell through empty air and the deep and heavy pit of fear in her stomach got unbearably heavy and her heart pounded in her ears. She had left her gun and her sword back at the shrine. She was utterly unarmed.

There was no time to stop and think, no moment of silence in the _rush-now_ of the moment that filled her head and her ears with hot fire and screaming. She turned on her heels and ran, leaving Junko's father behind in the house and the panicking villagers behind her as well. She didn't even think of saving them. She had to get her weapons.

She had to _run_.

She had to _live_.

She tripped, fell, and soiled her pretty kimono on the ground. It took all her effort to hug her shroud close to her head as she ran in the direction that she thought was the shrine. It was harder to tell where she was going than it had been when she had left. The air now was full of smoke and cries, and there were running people and horses and bandits and toppled houses everywhere Shiko looked and she couldn't tell which way was which.

Now-dirty hands pressed into the ground as Shiko pulled herself up, and then she almost fell again in her haste to throw herself to the side.

Her back hit a heavy wood wall with a painful crack and right where she had been a second ago, a poor young girl was grabbed by a bandit. The girl screamed and kicked and cried against the firm and wandering hands of the man, and Shiko's mind instantly labeled the girl as 'good' and the bandit as 'bad' and Shiko's own hands found a large stone that had fallen to the ground.

Screaming, she ran at the bandit and slammed the heavy stone right into his head. The man fell to the ground with a thud and the girl wriggled away in fear.

"Get the fuck out of here!" Shiko yelled at her, trying to make the little girl that couldn't be older than thirteen understand that staying here was certain death. She didn't even notice that she had yelled it in English until she was too far away for it to matter.

She ran again, blood rushing through her ears, noise and smoke drowning out her senses. She just had to run.

A man in armor swung a spear at Shiko's head.

Almost gracefully, she spun to the side and grabbed the spear just below the blade, her fingers digging into the wood. She snapped her leg up, breaking the wooden staff clean in two. The man lunged for her, hoping to use brute strength to take her the small young woman down. Shiko stepped to the side of his punch, and slammed her knee into his gut.

Groaning in pain, the man snarled and slashed at her with a knife that he had hidden somewhere. "Fucking bitch!" he snarled, and it took Shiko a moment to remember that he was talking in Japanese. She was running on years of spars with her father, and a few weeks in Japan's feudal era. She couldn't think, all she could think about was how if she made a single mistake, even one, then she would be dead. Fast reflexes that she had once smiled and bragged about kept her alive, kept her heart still beating.

"Fucking bastard!" she screamed back, turning on the spot to avoid the sharp blade.

A heavy boot to her stomach sent Shiko to ground, clutching her stomach and feeling like she was going to throw up.

He had kicked her. He had _fucking_ kicked her. Right in her stomach! And it hurt, it hurt like hell. Shiko groaned in pain, and struggled to roll to the side in time to avoid the foot that tried to smash her head in.

She rolled onto her side, locked on foot behind his and brought her other leg up, bringing her foot down onto his knee.

The man collapsed to the ground, howling like a sick pig and clutching his knee.

Shiko ran again.

She had probably broken his kneecap, there was no way that he would even be able to walk, let alone follow her. And she had wasted way too much time fighting him already. The whole village was aflame, everyone was either dead, dying, or trying to escape. This sort of thing shouldn't be happening, her logical mind insisted, this sort of thing was just too un-real to possibly happen. This was just so not-Shiko that it had no place in a world where Shiko lived. Bandits? She'd never worried about people like that. Demons? Only in a world of fantasy. People dying, right there in front of her? Something she had been too stupid and complacent enough to never even properly think about.

When she skidded to a halt in front of the tall temple steps, the knot in her stomach twisted tighter.

Smoke was rising from the top of the shrine.

"Hikaru-sama!" Shiko gasped. The old woman would never be able to run fast enough and there was no way someone who was as frail as her could fight off a bandit! Those thieving murderers would kill the old miko in a heartbeat!

"Well, well! I'm really fucking lucky!"

One foot on the step and her body poised to run like hell, Shiko froze. She remembered that voice. "Oh, I see," she said slowly and carefully, turning her head to face the man, "You're the one I beat up the other day. Come back for revenge?"

The man smirked, and Shiko was pleased to see that there was still a lump on his head from where she had hit him with the handle of her sword. "You, ya bitch, are going to regret crossing the great Gorou! I'll make you pay a thousand times! And… you ain't got a blade on ya this time! Easy kill."

Shiko raised one hand into a fist. Her knee bent slightly, settling her body into a wider stance. Gorou's face cracked into a yellowed and twisted grin. He placed one hand on the katana's handle.

She turned and ran up the stairs as fast as she could.

Behind her, she could hear the man, Gorou, pant and swear as he hurried to follow her up the great stone steps that led to the shrine. Shiko was banking on her getting there faster. She needed to save Hikaru, and she needed to retrieve her weapons, which she left at the shrine, and to do both of those things, she had to arrive at the top first. She was banking on the fact that she was lighter and speedy, as well as having a split second start, whereas the rouge samurai was heavier and wearing armor.

There was no time to turn around, no time to glance behind her to make sure that she was ahead. Her feet pounded against the stone and she watched as the smoke from the top of the stairs slowly rose up.

She came to the top.

The great red tori gate was burning.

And the door to the shrine was broken and collapsed.

Shiko ran to the shrine, hoping against hope that Hikaru was still inside and still alive and that the poor old woman had not been cut to the ground like Junko. Like Junko, who was a young woman at the beginning of her life, and unlike Junko, because Hikaru was an old woman at the end of her life.

Still running, because she knew that Gorou was right on her heels and because there was no time to waste, she stooped down and grabbed a heavy wooden beam from the door.

There were two men inside the shrine house, a bald man and a younger man. The bald one had raised a sword, about to strike down the fallen form of Hikaru.

"Leave Hikaru-sama alone!" Shiko screamed, rushing the older man.

Wielding the wooden beam like a sword, she smacked the metal blade away from the old woman. She turned on the balls of her feet, her back now to Hikaru and her enraged eyes staring at the two men. "How dare you!" she yelled furiously, "How dare you attack an innocent village and kill its people!? How dare you murder an old woman who has given her life in service to the gods!? What kind of filthy, vile, disgusting people are you to do these things!?"

"Shut the hell up!" the younger one retorted, drawing a sword of his own, "You're just some dumb bitch! You ain't got no right to order us around!"

Then Gorou stepped through the doorway, staying nice and safe behind the two other bandits, but with that despicable smirk on his face, the sort of smirk worn by a man who knows he is about to do a very bad thing and get away with it, "Oi. Kill the old woman. Leave the girl to me," he ordered the two, "This is the little slut that thought she could get away with beating me. I want to have some fun with her before I kill her."

Shiko tried very hard not to allow her face to pale upon the thought of what that man would consider 'fun'. "I'll carve you up like a dead pig before I let you lay a finger on me _or_ Hikaru-sama!"

Brave words or not, Shiko mentally counted the steps to where her weapons were kept. She had left her sword and her gun in a basket under the shelves behind her, and it was too far away, too far away. If she got her hands on either of her weapons, she knew that this would be a fight that she could win. A gun would guarantee victory. A sword would give her a fighting chance.

Hikaru-sama slowly stood up, swaying like the old woman that she was. She placed a hand on Shiko's elbow, the highest part of the young woman that she could reach with her back still hunched over, "Don't soil your hands… with the likes of these," she huffed.

Shiko saw the flash of prayer beads from inside the woman's kimono. "Don't Hikaru-sama," she tried to say, "I'm a fighter, and you're-"

"An old woman?" Hikaru scoffed and pulled out the prayer beads. In an instant, she pushed Shiko behind her with surprising strength and wound the string of glittering prayer beads between her fingers with a practiced skill. "You disreputable bandits are filth and are no match for a servant of the gods!" she declared.

The bandits saw the prayer beads begin to glow.

A miko's powers, as everyone knew, were strong and best avoided. Even the weakest could craft barriers strong enough to hold out against weak demons and mortals. Once Hikaru got a barrier up, there would be nothing the three men could do, they would not be able to break the barrier and Hikaru and Shiko would be safe inside.

Gorou did not give Hikaru that chance.

He stabbed her through the chest. Blood splattered the old woman's white kimono and Hikaru fell to the ground in a crumpled heap. The prayer beads clattered to the floor.

"Hikaru-sama!" Shiko cried, scrambling forward.

Her fingers tried to find the old woman's wrist, tried to check her pulse, but there was no use. The miko was dead.

"God damn you!" she screamed, brandishing the wooden beam and rushing at the men.

With new found fury, she swung the beam at the closest bandit, striking the bald man's metal blade over and over again. If she could just take down one of them! If she could just knock them all out! One strike, that was all she needed, she knew that the physics of a heavy solid stick of wood would triumph against a think skull.

The younger bandit kicked her in the side, sending her crashing against the wall of the shrine.

Her chest ached and groaned in pain, her shoulder protesting from being kicked against a wall and her side where she had been kicked would be badly bruised in the morning. Gritting her teeth and swearing to herself that she would not scream out in pain, she would not even show the slightest signs of discomfort, she slowly tried to push herself up. She had to get up, she had to get back on her feet and get fighting. The only alternative was to roll over and let herself be killed and that was simply unacceptable.

Another kicked to the back sent her to the floor again.

The younger one grabbed her arms and twisted her hands behind her back, holding her down. Her already bruised shoulder cried out from the horrible twisting as the man held onto her arms tightly. With a tug, he pulled Shiko's arms, forcing her into a somewhat sitting position.

Gorou knelt down in front of her as she squirmed and writhed in the bandit's grip. The man smirked, "Damn, you really are a feisty one! You, ya little bitch, are going to regret messing with me!" he barked to the man holding Shiko's arms, "Oi, Hiroki! Don't let her get away, I want to _enjoy _this." He smirked and then reached towards Shiko.

Shiko panicked.

She titled her head forwards and then slammed the back of her skull against Hiroki's nose. His grip loosened for a moment, and a moment was all that Shiko needed to rip her arms out of his grip and plant a powerful side kick into Gorou's chest. Her head ached from the abuse, but she knew that her head was a lot denser that the guy's nose, and that strike had probably broken his nose, but her head was still intact, if a bit sore.

Desperately, she scrambled backwards, trying to run or to escape. Her heart died in her chest. There was nowhere to run to.

These despicable bandits had her backed against a wall.

Gorou wiped a trickle of blood away from his mouth with the back of a dirt covered hand. Shiko must have kicked him really hard but there was no flash of satisfaction. Only fear. She couldn't fight them. Her scared eyes flickered over to where her gun and sword were stashed. Too far away, and the bald bandit was between her and that basket.

Blood rushed through her ears. Gorou took a step closer and his dark eyes burned with anger. Shiko had really pissed these bandits off.

Her twitching hands wound into the fabric of her kimono shroud. "Stay back!" she cried, desperately trying to shrink against the wall, "Stay back I said!" she grasped a fistful of the shroud and a stupid dangerous idea formed in her mind.

She ripped the shroud off her head, revealing strange metal earrings and that streak of bright blue hair that wasn't natural, "I'M A DEMON!" she screamed, "STAY BACK!"

There was a moment of shock across the bandit's faces.

"You idiots! That don't change nothing!" Gorou snarled, stepping closer, "Demon or not, she's gonna pay! And we'll become famous for killing a demon!"

The kimono fell from Shiko's shaking hands.

They didn't care. It didn't matter. There was nothing more that she could do. She suddenly threw herself towards the basket where her weapons were, a desperate and suicidal move because the bandit Hiroki was in between her and the basket and he was ready for her.

The bandits lunged at Shiko as she struggled to reach the basket. Hiroki grabbed her by the waist and the bald one yanked on her ponytail, making her cry out in pain as it felt like her skin was being tugged off her skull. She was pinned down in an instant, and she became an animal. She clawed and flailed and screamed and tried to bite the hands that covered her mouth.

Heavy hands grabbed at her kimono, ripping the fabric off her. Her pretty kimono lay tatters. She tried to tug herself towards the basket, trying to find purchase on the matted floor.

And the hands were grabbing at her breasts and at her butt and Shiko realized that killing her would be the final thing on a long list of things that they were going to do to her.

Gorou straddled her hips and Shiko's hand finally grabbed the edge of the basket.

Her fingers found the smooth metal of the gun and she flicked the safety off and turned to face the man on top of her.

She fired the gun.

And again.

And again.

Three consecutive cracks shot through the room.

Shiko was splattered with red blood and bits of skin and hair and brain and an eye rolled to the floor at her feet. Blood pooled beneath her and she dragged herself out of the way before the heavy body could fall on her.

She had killed them.

She had actually _killed_ three people.

Her too wide blue eyes saw red, red, red blood, and broken corpses and she had been the one to put them there.

She was a killer, and the thought shook her to her core.


	14. But Be the Serpent Under It

S-S: Wondering if I should change the rating to M? Offer your opinions! Also, if anyone cares, I did more art for this story, go check it out, the links are on my profile page.

"Look like the innocent flower, But be the serpent under it" A good quote pulled from Macbeth, that I feel quite fits the castle that appears later in this chapter. *wink*

I don't own InuYasha.

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><p>Bloodied hands slipped off the rough wooden bark of the tree. Shiko almost fell to the ground again, for what must have been the hundredth time that night. But this time she caught herself and managed to fall against the tree before she planted into the dirt. She kept falling all the time. At first she had ran, but after running through the night, her legs had given up and her lungs had begun to hurt all the time, pain when she breathed, pain when she walked, pain, pain, pain.<p>

Big purple splotches covered her chest and hips and knees and shoulders, bruises all over that hurt when she fell. A filthy cotton kimono was draped protectively over her head like a shield, a sheet of cloth that might have once been a pretty blue color but was now ripped and dirty and stained with blood that had only half dried and either dripped wet red or clung in clumps of dirty maroon brown. She had grabbed her things and ran, ran faster than she really could and might have twisted her ankle the first time she fell but had ignored it because there was nothing that she could do about it and stopping running would have got in the way of getting away. She had to get away or they would come back.

She wasn't so scared of being found. She was scared of being hurt. She was scared that she would have to kill more people.

There were dirty tear stains running down her cheeks from where she had cried before. She wasn't crying now, possibly because she had run out of tears, possibly because she was too tired and exhausted and scared to cry anymore. She hadn't been able to get a second kimono to cover her jeans and shirt and she knew that she would attract attention.

She stumbled again and a flash of hot pain ran through her bruised side.

It was hard to see. She could see ahead of her, and she could see behind her and she could see _herself_. She was doing that _thing_ again, that thing where she left her body but now she wasn't able to really stop it or control it.

It was strange. When she moved her body, her little invisible floating pair of eyes called a soul got tugged a bit closer and when she paused for a breath of air, she could float farther away. She tugged her body forward and tried to move more and her eyes flew back into her body.

She didn't want to think. She didn't want to think about the bright red blood and how she had made their heads go all bloody and _bang_. She wasn't a killer, not really, she didn't want to – _never_ wanted to – kill anyone. Even though she had thought she was prepared, even though she knew that she was trapped in a world that she had thought was not real, she was still just a teenager who had lived a non-violent life.

Her throat caught on her breath and she accidentally tripped again.

She thought that she was heading east. She was _trying_ to go east. East was the right way to go, and she had gone in the direction the sun had risen, but she wasn't sure if she was still going that way after having walked all night. In the morning she would be able to tell again.

Her eyes were so tired, her head hurt. Thinking back, she realized that she hadn't slept in over two days. She hadn't gotten much sleep back at that village shrine and when Rin had been sick she hadn't slept at all. She forced her eyes open. She couldn't go to sleep. If she went to sleep then she would get caught. But she was so tired…

She fell, and from farther away she saw people coming right towards her before her soul snapped back into her body and she fell to the ground with a heavy thud, her eyes fluttering shut.

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><p>"Sesshomaru-sama," Rin said worriedly, almost tugging on the demon's sleeve because she wanted him to pay attention to what she had to say, "There's smoke," she pointed to the thick streams of grey and old black smoke rising in the distance, "There's smoke coming from the village where Shiko-san is!"<p>

Rin knew that kind of smoke. She had seen that kind of smoke before, on a hot summer's day that she wanted to forget more than anything. She knew that smoke meant that a town was burning to the ground and she had seen it happen before, she had seen bandits destroy her town. She didn't want Shiko to be there. Shiko was nice and kind and funny and Shiko acted like a mom, when she wasn't acting like Shiko. Rin didn't want Shiko to get hurt by bandits. The naive part of her thought that Sesshomaru could swoop in and save Shiko. And she was kind of scared, because she could only see the smoke now that they were on top of a mountain and it was morning, and she didn't know how long ago this had happened.

"It is a matter concerning humans," Sesshomaru replied, not even stopping, "I am not involved."

"But there's smoke," she said, which made perfect sense in her mind only Sesshomaru didn't see it that way. "Shiko-san will be in trouble. She could get hurt."

He said nothing, and just kept walking east.

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><p>"<em>Don't worry Shi," her dad said with a smile, "You'll never actually have to shoot someone. But it never hurts to be prepared."<em>

_Shiko smiled as well and leaned forward, raising the gun to try again. The perfect bull's-eye still eluded her, hovering on the edge of her current skill level, taunting her with the fact that she might be able to hit it, just maybe, if she tried harder. _

"_You'll never be a killer."_

"_A murderer."_

"_Killer."_

"_You're a killer."_

_Shiko turned to face her dad, but he wasn't there. He was a headless man, only his head was there, but it was-_

_Was-_

_Blood, splattered everywhere, bits of brain and bone and goo that couldn't be named, and blood, blood, blood, covering everything in deep dark red. Shiko's shaking hands look down at the gun, and she knew that she hadn't shot at all but her hands were covered in blood. _

_She screamed._

_And the head-blasted man reached his crimson hands towards her throat._

Shiko bolted awake.

Her heart pounded from the blood rush, her eyes still seeing blood red and she had to pause and think and breathe and remember that her father had not died and neither had she. But she had killed. That part was true. None of the rest was, she had to remember that. She ran a hand through her bangs and then froze.

Where the hell was she?

Her hair was out of its ponytail and she didn't have the kimono covering her head anymore. She looked around. She was in bed. A futon on the tatami mat floor, and she was underneath a comfy pale red and yellow checkered blanket. The walls were wooden and there were pairs of sliding paper screens, one leading to another part of what must be this house, and the other one was partly open, leading outside. Daylight streamed in and there was the smell of dirt and grass and a distant chirping of birds. A candle in a brass holder rested to the side of her pillow and the room was very neat and tidy, like it had been swept recently.

Shiko pushed herself up, trying to sit. Her chest groaned in protest and she leaned heavily on her hands. She wasn't wearing her proper clothes anymore. She was in a plain white kimono and her torso was wrapped in bandages. Wherever she was, the people here had changed her, which was creepy, but had tried to help her, which was reassuring.

When she managed to sit up, she noticed that her old clothes were folded into a neat pile at the foot of the bed and her gun, sword, and bag were placed there as well, neatly, as though the person doing the placing was a maid or suchlike.

There was a knock at the door.

Reminding herself to speak in Japanese, Shiko spoke up, "C-Come in," she said, although her voice was raspy, probably from the smoke of the fires and the fact that she just woke up.

The door slid open. A young girl, younger than Shiko but looking a lot meeker entered with a tray of food. "You are awake!" she said happily, setting the tray down near Shiko's bed, "I am so glad, you've been asleep for a day and a half."

"A day and a half?" Shiko echoed. She had really been asleep for so long? But it felt like it had only been for a few hours.

The girl nodded, "Yes miss," she said in the quick and clipped voice that made Shiko realize that the girl was a servant, "A hunting party found you collapsed in the woods a ways away from here. You were lucky to be found. The men brought you back here. The Lord and Lady are very kind, they said that you may stay here for as long as you need to get better. And…" she looked slightly embarrassed, "They had a lady physician tend to your wounds."

"Right," Shiko replied, almost automatically as she tried to take in all this new information at once. "Where- where am I? Where is this place?"

She smiled, "Castle town."

"Yeah, and that would be…?" Shiko questioned again, because the girl's first explanation truly meant nothing to her. "Sorry, I'm from really far away," she added as an explanation.

"You're in the Lord's castle," the girl explained, "But there's a large town surrounding here, and even the castle itself is so widespread that it's like a village itself," she looked back down at the tray of food and held it out to Shiko, "I am sorry, you must be hungry. Please, eat, and then I can change your bandages."

Shiko smiled and gratefully accepted the tray, "Thanks."

She picked up the chopsticks and quickly ate the simple bowl of rice and fish. It was good, definitely like food she expected from a castle. What was Shiko doing here? It was terribly good luck for her to have been found by the hunting party, and she was probably far away from where she had been found. The people here must be pretty kind hearted, to carry her back all the way here when she was unconscious.

Setting the chopsticks down again, she helped the girl with her bandages. It was an awkward affair, since Shiko couldn't move her shoulders more than an inch, but the girl never lost her blush and apologized extensively every time she made Shiko flinch or saw a bruise.

After the girl had hurriedly cleared away the tray, she returned with a kimono that was made of some sort of rich silk and was either one of the Lady's, or a noblewoman's cast off. Dressing Shiko was also difficult, because Shiko had no idea how to put on the kimono or tie the obi, but because Shiko was Shiko, she couldn't possibly let the maid do all the work. The two struggled but managed to get Shiko looking like a presentable lady in the end.

There was nothing to be done about her hair though.

"Why-" Shiko began, as the maid hesitantly and gingerly ran a brush through Shiko's long hair, "Why did they take me in, with hair like this?"

The maid clearly wasn't sure what she should say or not, "Your hair was still covered when the men brought you back. Of course, the lady physician saw right away and informed the Lady. The Lady said… she said 'A lost and broken child should not be turned out due to the color of their hair, a matter of which is not the child's choice.' And then nobody argued afterwards, although, if you pardon my forwardness, I don't think you look like much of a child, miss."

A muffled and fuzzy part of Shiko's brain wondered why the lady would have said such a thing. Wouldn't most, especially – and Shiko wasn't trying to be rude, only honest – especially a rich noblewoman who could have anything she asked for at the drop of her hat? If the lady had not trusted Shiko, Shiko would be dead. The rest of Shiko's mind was suspicious. It was only a small part suspicious, as most of her mind was fuzzy, but it was suspicious all the same.

"The lady sounds like a kind woman," Shiko said honestly.

The girl placed that eager and cheerful smile on her face again, "Oh she is! And the Lord is good hearted as well! Our village prospers. It is even good for servants here."

"If it's not too rude, I should like to meet this lady," With a last painful tug, Shiko's hair was done up into a fancy bun. She might have said 'ow', but only a tiny one, and very quietly.

"Of course!" the girl said, as the question had been a silly one, "The Lady has asked to meet with you once you are better," she held out a hand to Shiko, "I will take you to her."

Shiko gratefully accepted the offered hand and stood up, leaning more than she would have liked on the girl to stay righted. Her side hurt something terrible, like a great big grinding meat pulverizing thing had been sewn into her gut and ground her bruises each time she moved. "Thank you," she said, and then glanced back at the neat pile of her old clothes, "My clothing, can you not have anyone move it or touch it?"

The girl nodded, "Certainly. No one will lay a single finger on your belongings, miss."

Smiling to reassure herself more than the servant girl, Shiko followed the girl out of her room and into a large and airy hallway that was indoors for a little bit and then mostly outdoors.

It was nice actually, the fact that so much of this building was outside. The air was fresh and that smell of dirt, grass, and flowers was light and gently tickled Shiko's nose in the most delightful fashion. And there were people too, lots of people. Men carrying bundles of wood or grain that strolled by in groups of two or three, women with baskets that they carried on their heads as often as in their arms.

"The people here," Shiko said as they walked, "They all look so happy."

"It's rather like a big family here," the serving girl remarked. She stopped in front of a door, "Here we are, miss, let me just knock to let the Lady know you've arrived," she did so, her tiny knuckles making a surprisingly loud noise against the wooden door.

After a moment, there was the expected call from within and the serving girl opened the door, stepping neatly to the side to let Shiko in, and then the door shut behind Shiko.

The Lady was sitting daintily on a cushion, sipping tea and looking out at the pretty rock garden. She had thick dark hair that fell in a carefully maintained and pinned wave down her back and wore what looked like a dozen layers in her intricate kimono. She turned and smiled at Shiko, "Oh, you must be the girl that our men recovered. Please, come in and have a seat."

Shiko walked over to the Lady and noticed a second cushion and tea cup. She sat, and, remembering her manners, bowed her head respectfully, "Thank you for tending to my injuries, my lady."

The older woman waved it off with a cheerful smile, "It wasn't a bother. I am always willing to help people who need it. And please, call me Kanako," Kanako picked up a small clay teapot and poured herself some more tea and then filled Shiko's cup.

The tea was sweet, jasmine. "Kanako-sama," she said, "Do you know who it was that found me?"

"One of the younger boys here I believe," Kanako said, sipping her tea, "I can send for him if you like?"

Shiko shook her head, "Oh no, I don't want to trouble the boy," she stared wistfully at the people and the garden outside, "I heard that the people here are like a family. Everyone looks cheerful, content." Not like the town she had been in earlier, not where people cast her dirty looks, or seemed to be constantly on edge, like nervous rabbits.

Kanako's smile faded a tiny bit, "This town is very lucky. There have been so many attacks, demons, fires, so many villages have been destroyed recently. But we have had no harm done to us, by demons or by people. It is good to breathe easy at night and know that no demons will come in the dark." She placed her teacup down and turned her head towards Shiko, "I am sorry, but I must ask. Are _you_ a demon?"

"No," Shiko replied, self-consciously reaching for a strand of her hair, "I'm one hundred percent human."

The lady almost seemed to blush, "Forgive my rudeness. These things must be asked, you know."

"It's fine," she said, truly not minding the question, "I know that I probably look strange. On my travels, a lot of people thought that I was a demon. It's just a hazard of looking like this."

Kanako nodded sympathetically and Shiko found it strange that a woman like her would have so much pity, no, this was understanding. In some way, she understood what Shiko was going through with having to hide her features. Now that was odd. "Well," Kanako said, "You are welcome to stay for as long as you like. I know that your injuries may take a while to fade, but when you are healed, you may stay as well. We take in strangers and loners often," she said, gesturing slightly to the people passing by, "Many of the servants here were without families and a few of the woman were kicked out of their village."

It was painfully easy to guess why, "And all those people, they've just… found a home here?" she asked.

"Yes," Kanako smiled, "This place is so large that one can never get lonely. Actually, the boy that found you was recently taken in here as well."

That tickled the edge of Shiko's mind.

The door slid open.

It was a maid, carrying something swathed in a kimono carefully in her arms. She walked carefully over to the lady and held out the bundle to her, "Here my Lady. The precious wako just went to sleep."

The Lady's face turned brighter and darker at the same time as she carefully took the sleeping baby in her arms, "Thank you," she said, dismissing the maid. She looked like all mothers do, full of protectiveness as she cradled and gently rocked her baby.

"You're… child?" Shiko said carefully, because she could tell that something was wrong. Not because she could see something wrong right in front of her, but because she _knew_ that there was something wrong, and that was a worrying prospect.

"Yes," Kanako replied, still looking at the baby, "I had him recently. He's the precious heir to this family that me and my lord husband have been longing for," she hesitated, and looked up at Shiko, "You are from far away, yes? You've traveled? Seen a lot of places and heard many stories?"

Slowly, Shiko nodded.

Kanako looked the tiniest bit relieved and a huge chunk of worried and hurried and panicked, "Ha- Have you ever hear about a child being born with white hair? I- I know that he is my child, of course he is, how could he not be. Only, I keep having this strange dream, of a girl with white hair and a boy, and of course, I can't know if it's true because everyone save me and my child that was in the birthing room died. Maybe you know something?"

And Shiko looked at the child and saw a sleeping, tiny infant. Not an infant. The Infant. The other half of Hakudoshi.

Naraku's heart.

She lied no, excused herself and left the room.

She had to think. She had to calm down. She had to _kill the child_.


	15. It Was a Nice Day

S-S: So sorry for this chapter taking so long, writer's block and all. And it's short too, which I really don't like as much. Ugh. Ah well. I promise that Sesshomaru will show up again soon, because I know he seems like he's not in the picture anymore but he is don't worry!

I don't own InuYasha.

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><p>It was a nice day out, and the sounds of fighting banged their way across the palace courtyard in the pleasant sunshine.<p>

_Clang! _

_Clang-bang! _

"Ow!"

Shiko held up a hand and dropped to one knee, pressing her fingers gently against her side. It had been two days already, and her injuries still hadn't fully healed. Two whole days of planning and thinking. After a while, her mind had gotten tired of thinking while sitting down in a fancy kimono and begged for grinding physical work. Shiko needed to be able to fight with her injuries, since she knew that trouble was coming soon and she knew that she wouldn't heal by then. Unlike demons, she had to make do with normal recovery times.

Luckly, there were plenty of men here who had once been warriors that were perfectly willing to help train. She had gone to the actual army here first, but found out the hard way that most grisly Japanese samurai laugh at a woman carrying a sword. And when they decided to humor her and placed her against one of their members, they despised her even more for winning. It hadn't been her fault, the man had been really pathetic.

Delicately probing her pained skin, she found that there was no blood and that the bandages hadn't come undone; it just hurt like a bitch. She stood up again and picked up her sword, "I'm ready."

"You sure miss?" her sparring partner asked, concerned. His name was Hitoshi, and he was about 30 or so, going bald with two kids but no wife. He swore up and down that he was a retired samurai, but Shiko suspected that he had been taught by a ronin instead and then had joined this castle to regain his honor or something. She hadn't asked.

She nodded, sliding back into her stance with ease, "Yeah."

Hitoshi picked up his blade and rushed towards her, swinging wildly to the right.

Shiko brought her blade to meet his and the clang of metal echoed in her ears once again. Fighting was helping her to clear her mind. Stepping closer, she slid her blade across his and aimed an upward slash towards his head. In the moment before impact, Hitoshi blocked the strike somewhat hastily and jumped back, putting a bit of distance between the two.

Then the two rushed forward and the blades collided. This, this was Shiko, heart and soul. The solid ground beneath her feet, the familiar and comforting weight of a sword in her hand, the continual movement and constant shifting and aiming and striking and thinking so hard about what to move next that she wasn't thinking at all. Her mind became a blank pool, reflecting thoughts like particles of light that echoed around in her head until all the tiny little thoughts sorted themselves out into a big and proper thought that Shiko could think about.

There were so many huge problems, she thought as her ears rang with the resonance of steel, and the issue was that she couldn't think about all of these problems at the same time because her head might explode. She had to think about each tiny problem and try to solve it, only sometimes one solution might make a different problem worse.

There were some annoying little problems that she could solve.

Firstly, she was aware that continuing to head east was actually a waste of time.

She hadn't realized it until she had arrived at this castle and thought about the point in the plot she was. Strange woman with mysterious powers, near a waterfall? Kikyo. Even though Shiko had foolishly given InuYasha a heads up about Kikyo's so called death, she knew that Kikyo would still end up appearing as that holy lady. And of course Shiko remembered Kagome healing Kikyo in that waterfall. It had been a good bit of advice, but it was useless. Shiko had no interest of going anywhere near Kikyo until she had thoroughly solved this strange thing with her soul.

Secondly, she couldn't kill the Infant. Yet.

If she just up and killed the son of the lady of this castle, she knew without a doubt that she would be executed within a minute after the crime, if not killed before. And she hadn't been able to think it through all the way yet. She had to fully grasp what killing the Infant now would mean. What repercussions would occur to innocent people because of this? Naraku might not even die. She knew that his heart could kill him, but if he got even an inkling of her plans, then he could either take his heart back completely, or fully absorb the Shikon jewel. No one wanted that last idea to happen.

And what would happen to Kohaku? Would he get his memories back, or would they be sealed away from him forever? How would they be able to get the jewel shard out of his back without killing him? And what about Kagura? Kanna? Neither of them really deserved to die, but if Naraku did before he gave them back their hearts, what would happen to them?

There were simply too many 'what if's for Shiko to do anything yet.

She stepped backwards and held up her hand, "Okay!" she called, "I'm done for now,"

Hitoshi nodded and walked over to the pavilion, delicately sheathing the borrowed sword and putting it down on the floor, "Good job, miss," he said, bowing his head politely, "You're quite the fine fighter."

Shiko inspected the edge of her blade to make sure that there weren't any scratches on the blade, "Thanks," she replied, grabbing a cloth and whipping down the metal, "I try." Her side began to ache, "Hey, do you have any more of that bruise ointment?" she asked Hitoshi.

"Yes miss," he said, walking over towards the weapon storage shed, "I'll just find someone to escort you."

"Oh, I can-" she was about to protest that she could find the way herself and she really only needed him to point her in the right direction when Hitoshi called out to one of the servants walking by.

The young boy hurried over to Hitoshi and with a weary sigh Shiko leaned over her blade and carefully sheathed it again. The people here, while nice, didn't seem to listen to her protests that she was an independent young woman. They just saw her as a guest and that mean that servants cleaned her room and showed her around and always apologized for even the littlest things.

"Miss?" the polite voice asked her.

Shiko glanced up, her mouth already partly open to answer. She closed it.

"Miss?" the boy asked again.

He's just a kid! She had to remember the time line, she had to understand that right now, he was lost and confused and that she could not snap at him because he did not know. Well, at least now she had a better understanding of how she ended up at this castle. "Hello Kohaku," she said, forcing herself to be as calm as possible.

Something went through his eyes, and Shiko thought that it might have been fear. "Yes, Shiko-sama. Do you work for Naraku-sama too?" he asked, and it almost looked like he wanted the answer to be no. Ah, yes, he was beginning to remember, remember Sango and his family and what Naraku made him do. After this, didn't he decide to fight against Naraku?

"No," she replied, standing up and looking at him expectantly, "Now are you going to show me where this castle keeps its medical supplies or not?"

Startled, he bowed to her, "Of course, Shiko-sama."

As she followed him to a different area of the vast and sprawling castle, she made sure to add, "And drop the 'sama'. I'm not a lady and you're not below me." Just because she didn't want him getting any ideas that she was in any way his boss.

He nodded, looking rather confused and puzzled, "Um… Miss… I thought that you _did_ work for Naraku…?"

"I don't," Shiko hastily denied, "That damn spider _wants_ me to work for him and has deluded himself into thinking that he can somehow persuade me to join his side, but I'll never work for him," she looked down at Kohaku, down because he was so much shorter than she was and she realized that he really was just a kid, even though he was so important. "You should not work for Naraku either," she added, and then regretted saying it a second later. He should realize that on his own soon enough, and nothing good would come of her meddling.

His eyes went very wide and he stopped walking. "I _have_ to."

She frowned out of habit, "No you don't," she said, almost too snappy, "You do not _have_ to do anything." Part of being born in America. She was a big fan of the whole 'freedom and liberty' or 'liberty and justice' or whatever.

Not really sure if he meant it or not, Kohaku protested, "But… I do! I just have to."

"Why?" She knew why. She really did. But she had to know if Kohaku knew why or not.

"He… he made me forget something," Kohaku admitted, like he was confessing to a crime. And he was, even if he wasn't sure yet.

"Something important?" Shiko asked, "Or something that you wanted to forget?" She was getting dangerously close to telling him everything, but she just wasn't going to let this go. She couldn't. She always had felt sorry for Kohaku. "Because there _is_ a difference, and I think that it's a rather significant one."

"I don't know," he said, shaking his head to clear away the images. "Oh, we're here," he was clearly grateful for the distraction, "This is where we keep all the medical supplies."

It was a large shed with no windows and two big fat doors. He opened the door and walked in, returning a moment later with a clay jar of something. "This is the ointment," he said rather nervously, holding out the jar, "Um… I don't think you're supposed to use it more than twice a day and not more than… 2 scoops of it either…"

"Thanks," Shiko said with a sigh, taking the jar. No, she couldn't leave like this. "Kohaku, listen-"

"Sorry miss! But I uh- have to go!" he stammered out before he turned and ran.

Shiko didn't bother to rush after him. Poor kid had enough on his plate without her messing around. Even so however, if there was something that she could do to help Kohaku, she would do it. She felt sorry for him. He couldn't even remember Sango, his own sister. That was no kind of life to lead.

She closed the heavy doors to the storage shed by herself, which was no small task when the doors weighed a ton and her side hurt at every push. Eventually, she shut the doors and tucked the pot of ointment inside her kimono. Being a guest of a castle was quite handy when all of one's good clothes had been stained with blood and dirt and hadn't been changed or washed frequently enough. Shiko had made it quite plain that she would not stand for any heavy kimono's and had almost demanded pants. She had gotten a quite serviceable outfit consisting of dark blue hakama pants, almost knee high boots, and a sleeveless light blue shirt that was a bit long on her. Although she had cheated a bit, and had cut the soles out of her sneakers and carefully sewn them on to the bottoms of her new boots.

Shiko turned and walked back towards where 'her' room was. She had an Infant to take care of, one way or another, somehow, and she had a lot of contemplation and thinking to get done if she was going to do anything productive.

It was a nice day.

And it was about to rain fire.

* * *

><p>The Shikon jewel, not whole yet but still a huge piece, glittered on the dark floor of the castle, abandoned for the sake of a conversation.<p>

"The bird demon, Abi. She is about to betray you and send her birds to that castle of yours."

Naraku glowered at his so called 'business partner'. Of course, this wasn't a shock to him, he had been aware from the very moment he hired her that she would betray him. Kohaku and Kanna were stationed at the palace and Kagura was on stand-by. If things got messy, then it would be easy for him to order those three to protect the child. Of course, there was that little complication. The human girl Shiko. If she interfered, it might actually work in his favor. Kanna could simply knock her out and then transport her to Naraku's castle. "I am aware. It's foolish of course."

Ichirou grinned, "You're not surprised in the least. You would hire her knowing that she would turn on you in the end, huh? Not the wisest of moves."

The saimiyosho had informed Naraku, however, "How did you come to know of her intentions?" the demon asked.

"I saw her leave," Ichirou said simply.

Irritated, Naraku snapped, "Why are you here? Whatever it is you have come to tell me, say it."

Ichirou reached into his pocket and pulled out a tiny egg-shaped object. It was smaller than the man's palm and shone a dull blue color. "This," Ichirou said fondly, as if speaking of a prize-winning pet or child, "Is a demon. It'll hatch in about an hour and will be born with its sole purpose and desire being to kill. I am giving it to you."

Naraku did not move to take the strange egg, "And for what purpose would you give that to me?"

"I _told_ you," Ichirou reminded him in a rather irritating voice, "I'm bored. This is a powerful demon, and throwing it into the fray will alleviate my boredom for a short while. And it works in your favor as well. I am certain that our friend and enemy Shiko will attempt to prevent that baby of yours from falling back into your hands. This demon will keep her occupied. And if she cannot defeat it, then Shiko will be yours, and you will have your information." He tossed the egg to Naraku.

The softly shimmering egg spiraled through the air before Naraku's swift hand snagged it.

Slowly, as if examining the object for any imperfections or flaws, Naraku turned the egg over in his palm. It looked to be a harmless tiny egg, but when he went still, he could feel the thing humming, like a fast and faint heartbeat.

Ichirou smiled like a knife, "It's a win-win situation."

And then, with a flash of his white coat, Ichirou turned on the spot and disappeared.

Naraku glared furiously at the spot where the other man had stood less than a moment ago. While this 'Ichirou' was knowledgeable, Naraku had a natural and understandable distrust for those who were of greater intelligence than himself. It was how Naraku played his games. He played with his mind and he won because he was smarter and cleverer than his opposition and could out think his opponent every single time. He played people like they were finely tuned puppets and always, without fail, knew what people would do and why.

Only now, he felt as though he was the one being played for a fool.

If this Ichirou posed a threat, Naraku would make certain to find out and kill him.


	16. Breaking Eggs to Make an Omelet

S-S: I don't own InuYasha.

* * *

><p>"I can sense a Shikon shard!" Kagome called to the others, pointing to a spot in the distance that she could not see but could feel, "Just one!"<p>

The group burst into action. InuYasha pulled Kagome onto his back and Miroku and Sango jumped onto a transformed Kirara. Sango's hands tightened in the giant nekomata's fur and she urged the cat to fly fast, faster, as fast as possible and then some. One shard. They all knew exactly what that meant.

Kohaku.

* * *

><p>A fiery blaze tore across the sky.<p>

Princess Abi carried her trident in her hands and rode the waves of fire, followed by a hundred birds that were constantly about to burst into flame. Naraku thought he could control her, did he? Set a half-demon and his pathetic human friends on her, huh? She was a demon _princess_ and if she had nothing else she had her pride. She refused to be drawn into petty squabbles between half-breeds, it was _below_ her and insulted her.

Besides, she had blood to collect for Mother. She could get her blood and get her payback on Naraku at the same time.

The sprawling form of the castle came into view. She loved human buildings, she realized. They caught fire so easily, all made of wood and straw and things. One spark and _whoosh_, the whole thing went up in flames. So easy to accomplish. Naraku should have known better before he hid something precious in a human dwelling. Shame, really. She had thought better of him.

* * *

><p>Dead and dry summer air blew through the mountains. Kagura stood at the top of the hill as she looked over the castle. Her tiny white sister stood by her side, head bowed ever so slightly and her miniature porcelain hands holding onto a mirror. What the two of them were doing there, Kagura wasn't certain, she had only been told to arrive here and deliver something.<p>

Her hand reached inside her kimono and pulled out a small softly shimmering blue egg. "What does Naraku-sama want us to do with this? Something to do with the human girl?" she asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow at the seemingly pointless object.

Without moving, Kanna quietly instructed, "Roll it down the hill."

"Down the hill, huh?" Kagura shrugged and kneeled down, placing the egg on the grass. So whatever this egg thing was, it needed to be delivered to the human castle. Perhaps Kagura's suspicions about that strange infant that resided in the castle were correct. Whatever spawn of Naraku it was, it was important enough for her boss to try his latest toy out on. Or maybe it had to do with that human girl, the one she had been told to 'befriend'. Shiko or something like that. Kagura had heard that Kohaku brought the girl to this castle.

She pushed the egg down the hill.

* * *

><p>And farther away than the demon birds, yet closer than InuYasha, Sesshomaru was heading east.<p>

* * *

><p>And at the castle, the invisible eye watching fell back towards the building…<p>

Back inside the castle and through the roof…

And then back into Shiko's head.

Her eyes snapped open and she fell to her knees, gasping and coughing. As she hacked her lung out, desperately trying to get in the air that her physical body had not, she sorted through the information in her head. It was difficult to allow her soul to travel so far away from her and the first three time she had tried to go beyond the castle, she had simply been pulled back into her body like she had been tugged by a taunt rubber band.

But well worth it, she thought, because the fourth attempt had been successful. She had needed to know when Princess Abi would make her move. She wasn't exactly sure what she would do about it yet, but she had figured that once she knew the time, the rest of the knowing would come. It hadn't. In fact, she had simply become more confused. What the hell was that egg thing that Kagura had? And why had she rolled it towards the castle? From what Shiko could remember of the show, nothing like that egg had ever appeared. And she basically remembered _everything_ from the show, so that really was saying something.

Then again, she was changing things, simply by being a part of this world. Naraku already had his sights set on getting her to cough up her secrets and had sent Kagura as a representative. Maybe his knowing about her and this strange egg were connected? She didn't know why or how, but it was a possibility.

She gave one last breathless wheeze before pushing herself to her feet.

Kagome and InuYasha and Sango and Miroku were coming, and that was a relief, because Sango was the only one who could get Kohaku to stop fighting against the people of the castle. She hadn't known that Sesshomaru was on his way, but that didn't matter. She was still pissed off at that damn demon and wasn't going to ask him for any favors anytime this century. It did make sense why he was here though. After all, in the original show, he had shown up just after the river of blood to the netherworld had closed and that had been when Kagura had decided to show him the other entrance.

However, Princess Abi was coming.

Her and her birds of fire, and once they started to attack the castle, Naraku would give some sort of signal to Kohaku to protect the Infant, even if that command meant killing everyone around the child. Shiko couldn't let that happen.

She had to warn the castle, she had to warn Kanako-sama, who really did seem like a kind lady at heart, even if she was the woman to protect the Infant. Shiko had to hope that Naraku would only send Kohaku to get involved. Things would get nasty very quickly if he decided to allow Kanna and Kagura to fight. Kohaku was human, and Shiko could fight human. She wasn't as good at fighting demon.

Still gasping, she leaned against the wall and took a second to right herself.

Then she grabbed her sword and slid it into the purple sash around her waist. She snatched up her gun and her small satchel as well, because she might need the firepower from the future to fight off the fire birds.

She pushed herself off the wall and, still slightly unsteady, rushed towards the door.

This castle had to have one of those tall gong towers or something, didn't it? There were guards everywhere that she could alert, right?

The door slid open and she hurried down along the hall.

She practically threw herself down the corner and ran into two guards. This castle was getting too complacent in their good luck at avoiding demons. Both the men were older and carrying nothing but spears made of lower quality metal and brittle wood. People who hadn't fought a real battle in a really long time, the sort of people that, in a show like InuYasha, served two bit roles before being gobbled up by a demon.

Panting, Shiko ordered them in a quick and harsh tone of voice, "Sound an alarm or something! This castle is about to be attacked!"

The two men looked at each other and then at her. "Miss, I'm sorry, but-" the younger one tried to say.

Shiko slapped him. "I know what the fuck I'm saying, and I am telling you that this castle is about to be attacked by a horde of blood sucking flaming demon birds!" she put both hands on her hips and glared down the man, "Now if you don't believe me, I am going straight to Kanako-sama and she will! If you're manly enough, then you will sound some damn alarm and get everyone out of here!"

She placed a hand on each of the men's chests and shoved them out of her way as she rushed towards when she knew Kanako-sama would be taking tea. At least the lady had a predictable routine.

The two guards thundering footsteps followed her down the hall.

She stopped in front of the door and practically slammed it open.

Inside, Kanako looked up from her cup of tea in a jolt. Her wide brown eyes were startled and Shiko noticed that, fortunately and to her immense relief, that the Infant was not in her arms. To her disappointment, she glanced around and saw the demon spawn tucked up in a blanket on a futon like the precious child that it wasn't.

"Higure-san?" Kanako placed her cup down, all flustered, "What is- is there something wrong?" she asked upon seeing the stressed look on Shiko's face.

The two guards placed a hand on Shiko's shoulders, "My lady," the first one said, "This woman was-"

"Oh shut it!" Shiko yelled at the two guards, grabbing their hands and flinging them off her shoulders. She turned to Kanako and looked the woman dead in the eye, "Kanako-sama, you have got to listen to me because the entire castle is in danger. I am not crazy, and I have a very good reason for knowing this, but I can't explain right now so just hear me out!"

Kanako nodded hastily, fear and worry crossing over her face, "In the absence of my lord husband I will take your word as truth," she hurriedly said, "Tell me what you know."

Finally. "This castle's luck at avoiding demons has run out and is about to be attacked by a horde of blood sucking flaming demon birds," she said in total deadpan. For the second time in the past two minutes. "If you don't believe me, _fine_, I will find some other way to get the people here to safety, but-"

Kanako held up a hand, her face pure white from fear, "I- I believe you," she said shakily. She turned to the two guards, "Ring the gong. I want my people ready to fight."

The two guards snapped perfect bows and ran off to follow their lady's orders.

Shiko's jaw fell open, "Fight?" she sputtered, "Kanako-sama, are you nuts?! These people, they stand no chance against these demons!"

The stately woman turned and glided over to the Infant, "And what would you suggest I do?" she demanded in a tone that said clearly that she would rather Shiko suggest nothing at all, "The castle is teeming with guards, my maids have been trained to wield naginata, and I have my child at risk. We must fight these demons or we will all die."

Feeling the very strong desire to roll her eyes at the ceiling, Shiko almost shouted at the woman, "Listen to me! There are birds, _flaming_ birds coming! They are not coming to assassinate you or your child, they are coming to kill everyone they can find! Summoning guards would be like laying out a banquet for them! Dinner, dinner, come and get it!" She ran a hand through her bangs angrily, "Your castles weapons won't do much good unless you use some proper weapons, not the crappy steel your guards carry."

Kanako's face got even paler, if such a thing were possible, "The weapons the guards are carrying… we don't have much with better steel!"

"Get your most skilled swordsmen and arm them with the best blades you have," Shiko ordered, "And get Kohaku!"

"Ko-Kohaku?" Kanako sputtered, "A servant boy? What good will-"

"Do it!" Shiko screamed, throwing her hands up into the air, "Do you want to die or not?!"

Kanako gasped and rushed to the door, throwing it open and yelling out to the nearest servant, "You there! Get me the servant Kohaku! _Now!_" She slammed the door shut and leaned against it, breathing quick shallow breaths.

"Okay," she squeaked, "What now?"

Shiko began to pace the room, "Don't let Kohaku near you, or the baby," she instructed, "I had you send for him because he is a very good fighter and he can hold off the demons for as long as you need. However," she glared at the Infant for a second before turning back around to face Kanako, "There are others besides the demon birds. More dangerous people. These demons can and will make Kohaku… well… they'll make him into a puppet. They will make him kill people and do whatever it takes to get your child."

Kanako gasped and her worried eyes fell to the sleeping Infant, "My baby? What do they want with my baby?"

Shiko opened her mouth with every intention of telling the woman the truth about her so called 'child' but then looked at the primal terrified look in Kanako's eyes and said, "I don't know. But they will find you and your child."

"How- how can I stop them?" Kanako begged desperately, "Please, they want my _child_!"

"You can't!" Shiko yelled. Screw being nice, she was stressed out and scared and worried and she had to think of a thousand things at once, "These demons will kill you and take your baby and I can't fight them because I am not that strong and they have Kohaku and some other backup egg thing that I don't even know about!"

The lady's surprisingly firm hands grasped Shiko's own tightly. "Please," Kanako whispered, "I cannot let these creatures steal away my child."

And the poor woman didn't even know that they already had. "But I can't do anything," Shiko muttered, "I can't fight them and their task is to find the child and so they will." That was how Kanna was. Even if Kagura was dead set on rebelling against Naraku in her own little ways up until the end, Kanna would always be loyal. Always, right until Kagura died. Right here, right now, in this plot point, they would follow Naraku's orders.

"Do something, please," Kanako implored her, tears begging to well in the corners of her eyes, "Promise me that you won't let my child be killed."

An idea came into Shiko's mind. She looked up at Kanako, "Alright, I promise," she said, lying through her teeth.

A tiny, not quite so relieved smile flashed across Kanako's face, "Thank you," she whispered, "Now tell me what to do."

"The demons after your child," Shiko explained slowly, feeling sick at the thought of her plan, "They know that the baby will be with you. But they won't come to collect until the fighting is done, or until you've ran away. Keep a bunch of guards near you, but not Kohaku, and make sure that it's obvious you have your child with you. I'm going to have to fight, I think," The mysterious egg seemed to be an invitation for her, "But… Once I'm done, I'll take your baby and run. You will take a bundle of blankets and pretend to still have your child with you. The demons should go after you, not me, and then we can meet up later when this is done."

Kanako nodded, "And if they go after you?" she asked hesitantly.

"Then I will try to fight them off," Shiko said. That was a lie as well. As soon as she got far enough away, she would put a bullet through the Infant's head.

There was a knock on the door outside.

Kanako rushed to the door and opened it, letting the cold air blow in. Outside was a panicked looking maid and an equally panicked looking Kohaku, holding his chain scythe.

The maid bowed, "My lady, I have brought the boy Ko-"

And then a then a white bird streaked in and speared its beak through her neck.

Kanako screamed.

The roof caught fire.

Shiko pushed Kanako towards the baby, "Get your child, get your guards, and _get out_!" she yelled, trying to get her voice heard over the beginnings of chaos sounding outside. People were screaming outside and people were running and Shiko could see more and more fiery white birds descending upon people.

She grabbed Kohaku's hand, "Kohaku, with me!"

Shiko left Kohaku with a group of men fighting off the birds that were now everywhere and left to the edge of the castle.

There was an egg that needed to become an omelet.

* * *

><p>It was too small inside, too cramped, even though <em>it<em> was making it bigger inside it was still too small. _It_ reached up, or in whichever direction up was. Up was relative. _It_ felt, felt cold or smooth, felt like the feeling of a feeling skidding off something. That wouldn't do. That wasn't right. _It_ existed to break and kill and punch and fight and make everything go the wrong very that wasn't wrong but right.

_It_ punched.

The thing _it_ was inside broke away like tiny little shards of something. _It's_ newly formed mind came up with _eggshells_.

It's hot cold body felt _air_ and it reached a clawed hand across the dirt. It had talons and it could _scream_ and it felt too cold and too hot and something inside of it was beating like a- like a- _heart_. Other things had _hearts_ too and it wanted to rip those out of other things.

It wanted to hear other things _scream_ too.

And huge black, glistening eyes blinked slowly and _looked_ at another thing coming towards it. The other thing, it had something metal in its hands, metal that the other thing thought could hurt _it_. The other thing was _female_, and its _hands_ were trembling.

Shiko gripped her sword tightly and stared at the giant grow demon.


	17. Use Your Head, Cut Off Thiers

S-S: And the fight happens! Yay! If anyone catches the Supernatural quote in this chapter, you are my new best friend, and I would love to rant with you about how that show has consumed my life with feels.

I don't own InuYasha.

* * *

><p>Shiko gripped her sword tight and slowly took careful, measured steps towards this demon.<p>

Its beak opened and made a noise that sounded like it was cawing through a bucket of nails. The thing was clearly some sort of crow demon, only not nothing like that nasty scavenger that swallowed the Shikon jewel. This thing was the size of a tall human, and looked twenty times nastier. Its arms were clawed talons and its wings were made of mottled dark feathers. It had huge white eyes and a long sharp beak, and was covered head to toe in feathers of all kinds. It sat on its haunches and reminded Shiko of those dinosaur birds of prey.

It blinked. Slowly, its eyes swiveled around and latched onto Shiko.

The crow titled its head on one side, like it was trying to figure out what exactly she was. Then it _screamed_.

This wasn't an ordinary scream, not by any means. This was _grated_ and _scratched _and _clawed_ its way through Shiko's ears at a pitch so high that she could barely hear it and sent her sword clattering to the ground as she clutched her hands over her ears to try and do something about the _noise_. Chunks of building peeled off walls and the dirt flew through the air, like even the earth itself was trying to escape from the horrendous sonic noise.

The crow closed its beak and slowly clawed its way forward.

Shiko pulled out her gun and fired at the demon.

The shot buried into the demon's shoulder and bright red blood trickled from the wound. The crow didn't even notice it. It just kept moving closer.

She shot a bullet to the heart.

The demon was physically forced backwards, it stopped, it cawed in what sounded like pain, but it did not die. Red blood gushed and then dried in an instant and all the creature did was blink and continue to slowly scuttle towards Shiko.

"Oh, fuck my life," Shiko swore.

And then the crow _lunged_.

Abandon all hope, ye who are attacked by giant fucking bird, Shiko thought as she threw herself to the ground in a stupid attempt to avoid being killed. Wind passed over her head like a hurricane and the bird crashed into a building on the other side, leaving a huge crater and no visible damage done to the demon.

It ruffled its feathers and picked itself out of the wreck, looking no more disturbed than if it had just been tapped.

Shiko raised her sword and rushed towards the crow demon, cursing her stupidity as she ran.

She brought her blade down, a fast strike to its head. In a flash, the demon vansihed from her sight and her sword hit dirt. _So fast!_ Air whizzed by her ear and she turned on the spot, bringing her sword up just in time to block the sharp talons that had been mere inches from clawing her eyes out. Her blade dug into its hand, drawing tiny trickles of blood, but the demon did not notice, it just kept reaching its claws closer.

Shiko jumped to the side just in time, as the crow sliced its other hand through the space where she had been just a second ago. When she collected herself and raised her blade again, the crow was gone.

Pain flashed through her shoulder.

She gasped, whirling around and using her sword to punch away the bird's talons from her shoulder. Scrambling backwards, she pressed her hand to her shoulder, trying to apply the right pressure to staunch the blood.

The crow sliced one wing through the air and the air became filled with feathers flying like darts.

Shiko ran, pushing herself to move faster than possible. Each feather struck the wall behind her, missing her by centimeters. Knife-feathers, hadnt seen that one before. The feathers hit wood with a solid '_thu-thun-thunk'_ action, feather after feather, imbeded five inches deep into the wood. A razor sharp feather snagged the kimono covering her head and pinned the purple fabric to the wall.

Shiko swore under her breath again and ducked behind the wall, covering her ears as the crow screamed again.

Her breath seemed too loud in her ears as she hid behind the wall. She could hear the crow throwing and chucking and destorying and screaming back behind her, as if the demon knew that its prey had gotten away from it. Shiko tried to steady her breathing, be as silent as possible. This thing didn't seem to hold an intelligence, all it seemed to do was fight. The way it looked at her, it was as if it could not comprehend what she was. It couldn't speak, and it had no grace, all lumbering heavy moves.

She pressed her hand to her shoulder again, gently probing the wound. A long thin gash ran from the base of her shoulder blade to her scapula, not too deep, but deep enough to turn her shoulder red from blood.

What could she do? How could she kill it?

Bullets hadnt stopped it, and by that same idea, anything short of a fatal strike with her sword wouldn't even make the thing blink. Another great scream reminded her that she could barely use her ears for hearing.

The demon was larger than her and she did not want to be anywhere near those vicious looking talons, so she ruled out close combat. Maybe if she could get a couple good shots into the thing's brain, or failing that, blind it. Then what? Chop its head off? Use your head cut off thiers, just like her father said. She would have to do something impressive to get close enough to the monster to kill it without being ripped to tiny shreds before then. Either way, she would cross that bridge when she came to it. First things first. Find some way to blind that sucker.

Taking deep breaths of air to steel herself, she held up her gun and stepped out from behind the building.

The crow demon was ripping and tearing apart a building like it was made of paper, its long talons hacking away and throwing things. It seemed to be searching for her, and the thought did not exactly fill Shiko with joy. But its back was to her and she didn't have a clear shot to its eyes or head. It had to be facing her.

Regreting what she was about to do immensely, Shiko gulped and yelled the first thing that came into her mind, "Hey, assbutt!"

The demon cocked its head and turned.

Shiko blasted its right eye out.

Blood and puss bursted from the demon's eye. It screamed again, not the high-pitched sonic ear spliting scream, but a tortured scream of agony. Its sharp talons clawed at its eye, like it was trying to scratch out its own face. It sounded like it was crying and Shiko almost felt sorry for it.

The demon screamed out, this time a call for vengeance, and it flashed towards Shiko faster than she could blink. In one fell swoop of a wing, it sent her flying into the wall.

She let out a wrenching gasp of pain as her back collieded with hard unyielding wood. She almost collapsed to the ground as well, only staying upright by leaning on her sword and the strong desire not to be killed. Even standing, withouth moving anymore than required to breathe, her back ached, her chest ached, she ached all over and it _hurt_. Back in her world, she had never felt this sort of pain before.

"S-Stop demon!" Someone very brave, and very stupid, yelled.

Shiko whipped her head around to see three guards with spears approach the demon. Spears! And they didn't even look as though they had had a day's training with them. A cold thought shuddered through Shiko's mind. They were going to be killed in an instant. "Stop!" she yelled at them, "Run away! You can't fight this thing! Just go!"

The guards exchanged terrified looks, but it was too late.

The demon turned its head to face them, its one good eye appraising them as fresh meat.

"RUN!" Shiko screamed, trying to move to stop the demon.

The crow's wings flickered and it streaked towards the men, so fast it looked like a blur. The guards tried to fight it, they really did try, they swung their spears and tried to stab it, but they weren't even flies to the the crow.

Its powerful wings snapped the spears, and the one guard that managed to embed his weapon in the demon's shoulder was devasted to see that it did no use and then was killed. The demon snapped its beak around the first man's neck, let the body drop and then turned to the other two. They tried to run. It ran faster. In a matter of moments they were headless corpses and the demon buried its beak in their stomach and began to eat.

Shiko was going to faint.

There was so much blood, a bright nasty red that splattered the ground and painted the crow's dark feathers crimson. She felt her stomach turn and heave and she had to cover her mouth to stop herself from screaming and she had to dig her nails into her skin to stop herself from passing out.

_This _was the worse thing, she realized. Killing that snake demon, killng Suikotsu, those had been easy. The snake demon bleed black and Suikotsu turned to dust. Neither had this bright red red red to them. Red like human blood. Red like the blood Shiko herself would shed when she was hurt. Black and dust were so fundmentally different from red.

Then the demon raised its head, its beak dripping with blood and turned back to Shiko.

It was going to kill her next. It moved towards her, a predatory gleam of pure vengeance in its eye. She had to do something.

She stepped forward…

And out of her body.

The thing about video games, Shiko always thought, was that no matter how good a fighter she was in real life, she was always better in video games. It wasn't simply because in a video game she had a mystical weapon that cast spells and shot fire at her enemies. The thing about real fighting is that most of the time, it was very difficult to know what was going on. She could swing her fists and her sword all she wanted to, but speed could still blur her vision, hair could get in her eyes, or dust or light, and sometimes when she was hit, her sight went all wonky.

In a real fight, it was very hard to see what was going on, and a real fighter like Shiko had to learn to rely on feeling where the opponent was, because a good deal of the time it was impossible to see where they were. In a video game, there was always perfect, 360 degree vision that could zoom in and zoom out.

This was like fighting in a video game.

Shiko could see _herself_ and see the demon at the same time and she saw the talons heading towards her head. She could see exactly where to place her body to avoid it and she _moved_.

Her body moved as she watched. The talons missed.

The pain in her back and shoulder was still there, but it was like a flashing red light. She knew it was there but she could ignore it with ease. And so she did. It was simple, really. She wondered how much pain she could ignore while like this.

Utilizing its insane speed, the demon flashed behind her and attempted to swip her away with its talons. Shiko saw and her body moved to block it. It striked again. She flipped backwards like an acrobatic and landed elegantly, her blade in hand and ready to strike.

It was easy, to do all these moves that she could never have attempted otherwise. She could see exactly where to place her hands, her feet, how to move her body and there was no ache or pain from her muscles to hinder her. The elastic pull back into her body wasn't occuring, and there was none of that resistance as her soul moved around her and the demon.

If she had a Super-Shiko mode, this would be it.

The demon swiped and hacked and tried to rip at her with talons. Her physical eyes closed, Shiko dodged and avoided with ease, feeling like a graceful ballerina next to a lumbering ox. The demon was still absuredly fast and strong, but that didn't matter, not when Shiko could see its every move and avoid.

She jumped to avoid a low sweep of feathers, and she jumped higher than she ever could before because there was no pain or muscle resistance to stop her.

The demon raked its wings through the air and hundreds of feathers sliced towards Shiko. It was like she could see the flight path of the knives and moved easily out of the way and blocked where she needed to block.

It screamed with a voice that crumbled the walls of the surronding buildings, but all Shiko could hear was a faint ringing that she ignored.

In quick sucession, she pulled off two of those moves that she had only ever seen on tv, the kind that looks great upon succeding and incredily stupid when one fails. She licked her leg straight up, slamming her foot into the demon's beak and then elegantly swept her leg in a low kick. She didn't leave time for the demon to loose its footing, she just swiped her blade along with her and cut its legs off.

It flapped its wings and hovered in the air, blood pouring from the short stubs attatched to its torso.

Super sharp beak first, it lunged towards Shiko, making to strike her in the back.

She didn't even turn around, she just flipped her sword over in her hands.

The demon impaled itself on the blade.

With perfect form, she pulled her blade from its body and slashed its head off in a single strike. The head rolled to the ground and Shiko got splattered with nasty red blood.

She stepped back into her body.

And realized that Super-Shiko mode had been a terrible idea. Her body screamed at her the moment she was in full realization of her pain, her leg muscles had been torn and her arms felt like jelly from taking hits that held far too much force for her to withstand. Her shoulder wound had been ripped open and her back fel like it had been pulverized. She hastily wiped the blood off her face with the back of her hand.

She stumbled backwards, her knees shaking.

All she felt like doing was going to sleep, passing out, just letting it all happen without her. But she couldn't, she had to focus! She could not let herself just give up. She had to get herself together damn it, and go get the Infant from lady Kanako.

There were people, good hard working honest people out there fighting Princess Abi's birds and Kohaku was about to go nuts. She had to do the job that was in front of her and worry about her deteriorating mental and physical state later. Get the baby, get out, kill the baby. That was her mission, that was all she could worry about at the moment. The rest of it had to _wait_.

She numbly and painfully walked over to the kimono that was pinned to the wall. Plucking the feather out of the wall, she grabbed the purple cloth and tugged it over her head, covering up her hair once again.

She ripped off a strip of cloth from the end, wiped down her bloodstained blade and then tied it around the wound in her shoulder. In the distance, a firey yellow and orange glow covered the palace compound, and she could hear human screams. Time to go do her job.

Ding dong, the demon's dead.


	18. Brothers and Sisters

S-S: And I don't own InuYasha. But major plot hints in this chapter, keep your eyes open during the last scene!

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><p>Shiko stumbled through the burning and smoldering palace. The roofs burned like great smokestacks, half the castle was destroyed or burned, and there were people battling the fiery bird demons everywhere she looked. She helped where she could, shooting the birds in the head or cutting them down, but she was so worn through that she felt as though the little that she was doing made no difference in the great scheme of this fight. There were more and more human bodies as she got closer to where lady Kanako was. Shiko had a difficult time telling which people were killed by the birds and which looked suspiciously like they had been killed by Kohaku.<p>

There was so much noise in the air, the whole place was thick with screams and shouts, she couldn't tell if InuYasha and the others had arrived yet and had stopped Kohaku or if the screams were caused by the boy killing people.

She grabbed the shoulder of the nearest guard, "Where is Kanako-sama!" she yelled at him.

The man slashed away at a bird that came too close to the group and shouted back to her, "The lady is at the edge of the palace with her servants! Do your duty to the lady!" He pointed a finger in the right direction.

It was funny how everyone here assumed that she wasn't about to kill the lady's so called child. Shiko nodded at the man and ran off where the man had pointed.

There was less fire on this side of the compound, probably because there was the lady here and someone didn't want the Infant to get hurt, or because the servants had evacuated the lady to the safest part of the palace. Either way, Shiko was glad to get as far away from the fire as possible. She was still aching all over. Her legs hadn't stopped shaking with each step that she took, and she had the horrible feeling that her arms might be too sore to fight anything bigger than the birds.

In the distance, she caught sight of a group of woman wielding spears, looking both completely out of their element and utterly ferocious to protect the lady at the same time. In the middle of the throng is lady Kanako, holding the Infant in her arms.

"Kanako-sama!" Shiko called out to the woman, running to catch them before a wave of birds got there, biting her lip to try and stop the trembling in her legs.

The lady looked up at Shiko with relief in her face, muttering something to her guards so that they stood aside and let Shiko in their shamble circle. "You're here! Thank goodness, we only just got away from the birds! I've been so worried that you would not make it!"

A tiny part of Shiko wanted to explain to the foolish woman that she should not trust Shiko with the Infant, that she should not trust a woman she only just met with her precious child. She didn't voice this. This was the right thing to do, she knew that much, but she still wished that she did not have to lie to a woman who had already lost one child because of Naraku.

Shiko just nodded, "I was fine."

Lady Kanako held out the Infant to Shiko, "Please, look after my child," she said with a faint smile, "I'll meet up with you after the fight. Go to the north, there is a hunting cabin, and just stay safe there, I'll go west and meet up with you as soon as I can."

Putting a smile on her face, Shiko cautiously reached out and took the Infant like she was handling a bomb that might explode any second. Rather an accurate thought, actually.

She wasn't one hundred percent sure how to hold a baby, but she managed without visibly flinching or recoiling from even the touch of the blanket. The Infant looked like it was sleeping, but Shiko knew that it wasn't an innocent child, no matter how much it wanted to look like one. "I'll…" she took a deep breath and reassured lady Kanako, "I'll take good care of your child."

The woman visibly relaxed and beamed at Shiko, "Thank you!"

One of the women guarding the lady passed her a blanket that had been carefully wrapped up to look like it could have held the Infant. Lady Kanako took the fake and almost pushed Shiko away, "Go! Good luck! Be safe!" she called to her.

Shiko nodded hastily and hurried away, the group of women running in the opposite direction.

She made it to the edge of the castle, on the verge of where the cleared ground met the forest. She looked back.

The palace was no longer a grand building and instead was one great big area of destruction. The fire had consumed the center of the building and was spreading fast. As she scrambled up the hill, she noticed that it looked like a circuit board consisting of wooden beams, and the bright yellow fire was flipping each and every switch on.

Lady Kanako had said north, hadn't she? Shiko turned right and headed south.

* * *

><p>"Kohaku!" Sango cried, jumping off Kirara and falling the remaining feet onto the ground. Her hand tightened around the handle of her boomerang as she laid eyes on the blood and the bodies. The others were staying out of this, even InuYasha who never stayed out of anything. This was Sango's business. He was her bother after all.<p>

She slowly walked towards Kohaku. He was on the ground, his weapon discarded, head in his hands and curled into a small ball, as if trying to make himself as tiny as possible. Please, Sango prayed, please let Kohaku not have killed these people.

Her brother was trembling. And there was blood staining his clothes.

"Kohaku…" Sango took a step closer, "Don't tell me… you've done this again…?"

Only her brother looked so… scared. He didn't look like he knew what he had been doing.

"I- I- I killed them," he whispered, and his voice sounded like it was broken. He flinched, "I- I thought… She said I didn't have to… but I d-did."

He… he _regretted it_.

When Sango had seen him last, he was still a mindless puppet of Naraku's, he had done anything and everything at the drop of a hat, but now he was regretting his actions. Sango felt her heart breaking for her brother. "Kohaku… do you know who I am?" she said quietly, kneeling down next to him and trying to look into his eyes.

"You're… the nice lady," he managed to shakily say, almost as if he was trying not to. He looked up at her, "I killed you."

Sango reached a tentative hand out. Please, she thought, let this be real. She just wanted to hug her brother.

There was a sudden gust of wind and Kohaku was gone, flying away on a feather in the sky.

"Kohaku!" she screamed.

Naraku had her brother. Again.

* * *

><p>Shiko glanced over her shoulder. Through the trees, she could still see the yellow and orange glow from the castle, but it was faint and she had difficulty making it out. And she had been steadily heading in the direction that lady Kanako had told her not to go for a while now. She was far enough away. No one would interrupt her here.<p>

It was sad that lady Kanako had to lose her child all over again, and Shiko did indeed regret that she had to take the child from her. But she did not regret that the child in question was the Infant. Still, she just wasn't used to… doing this. Killing people. She had never even considered killing someone before coming to this world and doing so still put a bad feeling in her gut. Killing those bandits was self-defense. Killing the crow demon was also self-defense. This wasn't. And this was a baby. Or at least in the shape of one.

Doing this was the right thing, she told herself. This would save a lot of lives.

She placed the Infant on the ground and took a half step back. The smooth surface of her gun felt too warm beneath her fingers as she chambered the next round.

She aimed her gun for the Infant's head.

"The child…" a voice from behind her, "Leave the child alone."

Shiko whirled around.

Kanna. The white girl just stood there, holding her mirror. She wasn't even looking at Shiko, or the ground, or the child, she was just staring blankly at something.

"Hello Kanna," Shiko said, feeling as though maybe she should be nicer but too stressed out to really care. "Sorry, on a normal day I would love to chat, but right now I'm a bit busy killing Naraku's heart, which your boss so conveniently made child-shaped and defenseless. Thanks for that by the way, it makes things so much easier."

Kanna said nothing, but Shiko's reflection appeared in her mirror.

Shiko stepped out of her body and her soul flew around and behind Kanna.

"Sorry," Shiko said, "But that won't work on me."

Her finger grasped the trigger of the gun, about to shoot the Infant.

And Kanna turned her mirror to face Shiko's soul.

Shiko felt herself being pulled towards the mirror, like a vacuum sucking her in. Her physical body fell slack, she couldn't keep her grip on that thin string of control she had. She was getting closer and closer to the mirror and then she was looking out.

Kanna walked over past Shiko's fallen body without giving it a passing glance. And then the white girl picked up the Infant.

And left.

* * *

><p>Twenty minutes later, Shiko woke up.<p>

Her head felt like it had been slammed against a brick wall, no, make that two brick walls and a truck. She groaned and rubbed her temples, slowly sitting up and trying to look around without giving herself a pounding headache.

"Shit…" she muttered under her breath. The Infant was gone.

She had missed it! She had fucking missed what might have been her only chance at killing the fucking Infant! How stupider could she get!? She had been defeated by Kanna for God's sake! She had had the Infant in her grasp, with a gun literally about to blow its brains out and she had let her damn soul be sucked up and she had lost her window of opportunity!

Her vision swimming, she pushed herself up and swayed for a moment before hurrying off back towards the castle. If she could see where the birds were headed, then she could get to the bird nest and that was where the whole 'river of blood to the underworld' thing happened. That was the next big plot point moment after all.

"I'm such an idiot," Shiko groaned. "And I still can't find my way home…"

A tiny part of her was relieved that she hadn't been forced to kill a child, but she tried to ignore it. She was becoming less and less a member of her modern world and more like a violent inhabitant of this one. This was getting ridiculous. She couldn't devote one hundred percent of her effort to both stopping Naraku and getting home, one would have to take precedence. But she still felt as though she had to do the right thing.

She muttered out loud to herself, "No, stop it. I just have to get the damn nest and… do something." She would figure it out when she got there. She looked up at the dark night sky. "I should have till morning…" she remembered absent mindedly. There was still the time needed for Kikyo to give the arrow to InuYasha with the message to give it to Kagome. And time for InuYasha and the others to get to the nest in time to jump down the river of blood when it opened up.

A sharp pain went through her side, reminding her that her side injury hadn't very much liked fighting either. She was a mess, her shoulder still cut open, her muscles all sore and probably torn from over exerting herself. No wonder humans felt so much pain when they stressed themselves too much, Shiko felt as though ignoring the pain and thinking that it would be fine had caused her to be such an idiot during her brief usage of Super-Shiko mode. But unfortunately, if there was a fight, she probably would have to do the same thing again or die. She was in no condition to be fighting without a bonus on her side.

Shiko leaned against a tree and caught her breath for a moment. She felt a bit less anger towards demons for always calling humans so weak. It was true, after all. She could only fight on even ground with a demon was when she pushed herself beyond her limit. A really powerful demon would make mincemeat out of her.

She laughed bitterly, "And so at the end, Sesshomaru was right. Somehow that's just so anticlimactic."

Something sharp bit into her neck.

"I tend to be right. Now drop the gun," Sesshomaru said calmly, pressing the tip of the sword a little deeper into her neck.

Her heart dropped through her chest, "Come on, can't a girl get a break?" she complained.

* * *

><p>A man in white watched from the mountains. From up here, he could see everything, the burning castle, the people fighting down there, the mountains nearby, and even the demon bird's nest. Not even the finest of demonic eyes had that kind of vision, he thought with pride. Ichirou shoved his hands into the pockets of his trench coat and smirked.<p>

"Hey," he said casually.

A second figure walked up, in the manner of one who is in a huff and has things to say about it. "Don't 'hey' me," the woman demanded.

Ichirou didn't even give her a passing glance, "So I'm guessing this isn't a social call?"

"When has it ever been?"

"And here I thought you might have missed me."

"Shut it. You know why I'm here."

Ichirou's smirk became an all-out grin, "But of course, my dear-" he waved his hand through the air, trying to come up with a term, "What name are you going by at the moment? It becomes so hard to keep track you know."

"Masa," the woman spat out, clearly infuriated with him, "Now will you stop this childish behavior?"

"Masa, huh?" Ichirou shrugged, "Well, whatever floats your boat. Rather horrendous in my opinion. I like the one you used last time we got together. What was it… Clarice? Clemency?"

Masa frowned, "Cherise. And I don't care. I don't use names to suit your whims, you know that."

Ichirou's grin faded, "I see. Let's get down to the real reason you're here, shall we?" he held up a finger, "And no lying to me, because I think we both know that you have been messing around with powers that don't belong to you. Just tell the truth and maybe I won't report you."

Masa rolled her eyes, "Please. As if you would ever report anyone and as if I have ever done anything that merited a report. Don't try to trick me, I know all your little methods. Now tell me what you did to that poor girl Shiko and how you got away with it. She's not eligible to travel between dimensions and her world is one of the few without the power to accomplish such a thing. In fact, that car crash was supposed to kill her."

There was a moment of silence. Ichirou slowly turned to face his companion, "Do you mean to tell me, that it _wasn't_ you who sent the human girl here?"

"You thought it was me?" Masa demanded, "But I thought it was you!"

"It wasn't," Ichirou said coldly.

Realization passed over Masa's face. She grinned. This time, she had won, "Well well well. It seems as though this is a very special case. What's the phrase… 'friends in high places'? This Shiko is very lucky. I wonder what she did to earn that luck though."

Ichirou was beginning to scowl, "Don't act so smug."

"Your little plans are going to burn," Masa said in a sing-song voice, "I told you it was stupid and you didn't listen! Speaking in your best interests, you need to write Shiko out of whatever plans you have. Who knows how strong support for her might be."

Ichirou gave a short huffy sort of laugh, "You cannot convince me to stop my plans. No one can. Not you, not anyone."

"You don't believe that," Masa said with utter certainty, "That's why you're being so careful. Listen to me, if you would just stop this madness, there would be no reason for fighting at all and things could go back to the way they were."

"You don't want things back the way they were either, admit it," Ichirou replied, "And I won't stop. Not ever. Everyone will see. I will win against the world, against _every_ world. And no one will stop me. Not you. Not even _her._"

Masa closed her eyes, "It's truly sad… seeing how far you've fallen," she said quietly, "But you'll lose, dearest brother, you will lose to _her_."


	19. Deal with the Devil

S-S: Annnnnnnddd we're back folks! Uh, short chapter today. Longer chapter next time, when the ball really starts rolling. By the way… what do all of you guys think about the middle name of Rafael? Drop me a review with your opinion :)

I don't own InuYasha.

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><p>"So…" Shiko said, trying to keep her voice steady, "Is this the part where you kill me?"<p>

"No," Sesshomaru replied calmly. Shiko could practically _hear_ his little self-satisfied smirk in his voice, the damn bastard. "You will answer my questions and then I shall consider your life. Drop the gun."

Well crap. Shiko let her gun slip from her fingers and fall onto the forest floor.

That was the only real weapon she had. If she went for her sword, Sesshomaru would easily stop her in a second, and then kill her for even trying to fight. She was as good as unarmed.

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't kill me actually," Shiko said nervously, "You know, I kinda value my life." Sesshomaru said nothing and Shiko swallowed painfully, hearing her heart beat in her chest a little too loudly for her own comfort. "I also value my secrets," Shiko continued, pulling a bit of her own inner strength back into her voice, "And if I had a quarter for every time that someone had a sword to my neck, I'd have a dollar," Kendo swords, that is, "So don't think that you can intimidate me."

"You are fooling no one," Sesshomaru scoffed.

Shiko couldn't see behind her, but she could feel the point of the blade move from her neck. Was he… letting her go? For a second, she breathed a sigh of confused relief and then froze.

Sesshomaru slashed the blade right across her head.

There was no pain, and then Shiko realized that he hadn't cut her at all. The kimono covering her hair had been cut up. The two halves of the pretty purple fabric slid off her head, revealing her black and blue hair.

Her blue, unusual, unnatural_, impossible_ hair.

"Fuck." Shiko swore, her hands flying to her hair in the desperate hope that she could cover up the weird blue color even though she knew that it was too late and that Sesshomaru had already seen enough to assume the worst.

In less than a second Sesshomaru had her pinned painfully to a tree, his clawed hand gripping her throat tightly, as though he was longing to squeeze the life out of her simply for existing.

"What _are_ you," he demanded, his voice deadly quiet. The way he was staring at her, his amber eyes glaring into hers. Whoever blinks first loses, and demons didn't need to blink.

The hair on the back of Shiko's neck stood up straight and her hands began to tremble. He was really going to kill her, wasn't he? She should have been more careful, she really must have pissed him off and now he was going to get all her secrets and then kill her and she would never be able to get home to her friends and family. And she would be dead, which was definitely a terrifying prospect.

"H-human," she rasped.

His grip didn't loosen. Not for even a single second did he believe her, "You are lying. You stink of human chemicals and no mortal creature has blue in their hair. I should have known from the moment you used that gun of yours. Humans have crude weapons, yours is too refined. Explain how you are hiding your aura and masking your scent."

"I- I'm n-not…" she choked out, her hands grabbing his wrist to try and pry his claws away from her neck, to try and stop the horrible feeling as he slowly crushed her windpipe. It wouldn't do any good, she knew that, he was a demon and she was only human with only human strength, but the fundamental instinct was built so deep into her that she tried anyways.

"Liar," he practically snarled the word at her. His arm twitched and Shiko's head was slammed against the tree trunk with a sharp burst of hot red pain.

"H-Human!" she pleaded.

"_No,_" Sesshomaru denied.

Don't you dare cry bitch, she yelled in her head, don't you dare. Don't let him see for even a second how much it hurts.

If Shiko was anything, it was strong. She hadn't been born strong, most people weren't, but she had become a very strong person over her few short years of life. If she didn't want to cry, she didn't. If she didn't want to talk, she didn't. She had taken to physical fighting like a duck to water because she was a master of verbal fights. Lana had once called her a 'spit-fire'. Shiko swore to herself that she wouldn't give up her secrets, because she knew that they were too dangerous and she refused to give even an inch to Sesshomaru. She said she wouldn't, and so she wouldn't. She was stronger than that.

She was stronger than this, stronger, stronger-

"F-Future- I'm from the f-future-" she blurted out.

Sesshomaru's grip went slack for a fraction of second, just for a tiny moment of time. "And why should I believe you?" It was shocking how cold and impassive he could sound while trying to interrogate her.

"I'm from the year 2013," she said, sounding like a pitiful little thing and hating herself for it, but too grateful that she could breathe properly now at least, "My gun is… human-made, just a more advanced model."

He didn't blink, "And your hair?"

"Dye. I dyed it," she admitted, "That's the smell of chemicals, I used chemicals to change the color of my hair."

The stare between them got more intense, like the ripples of air over cement on a hot day, almost a physical spark in the air between the two of them. Sesshomaru had to believe her, he had to. Would he? His eyes betrayed nothing, no emotion, nothing but cold reality and harshness, and something else that may or may not have been him trying to read her mind.

His claw pressed into the skin of her neck, reminding her just how easy it would be to slit her throat then and there. He wouldn't care either, just kill her without batting an eye. Had done the same thing before probably, dozens of faceless victims. Shiko was just the next dead body on a heap of others.

"P-please," she was almost begging now, "You have to believe me. I can prove it- I – I have technology, information, a cel-"

Sesshomaru's hand tightened.

Shiko gasped for air, struggling to take in even the tiniest amount of oxygen, her throat on fire from how much it _hurt_. Her useless fingers flailed uselessly against his hand, trying to move granite with the wings of a butterfly.

He didn't believe her. No- it wasn't that. He hadn't accused her of lying, and he had showed no reservations against doing so before. Somehow, Sesshomaru believed her. Probably had guessed as much about Kagome in the past, this only reinforced his belief. Why was he doing this then? For the fun of it? Was he that cruel?

Shiko had truly been a fool.

She could play games with the other humans who lived in this era, fool ignorant civilians because she was cleverer than them and because she could do tricks with her voice. It had been easy to befriend Kagome, but there hadn't been any tricks there, and the same thing with making Kouga back down. That had been because she was speaking the truth and because they were kind people, not because she was smarter than them, not because she could fool them. She had been an idiot.

Somewhere along the way, even while trying to be careful and aware, she had thought that she could play Sesshomaru for a fool.

And now he was going to kill her.

"P-Please!" she gasped, begging now, pleading for her very life with what little breath she had.

Her chest felt too heavy, her lungs straining as only tiny wisps of oxygen made their way into her blood. Never had she valued air so highly. Her legs kicked against the tree, she tried to scratch Sesshomaru, she tried whatever tricks she had. She couldn't hurt him, she couldn't breathe. She wouldn't break, she wouldn't, she wouldn't cry, she wouldn't, she was stronger- stronger-

Hot wet tears welled up in the corners of her eyes and tricked down her cheeks. "Sessho-maru- P-plea-please-"

Sesshomaru leaned in and asked, slowly, carefully, with steady cold deliberation, "_How did you know the name of Jaken's staff_?"

No. She couldn't.

"I- I ca-can't," she gasped through her tears, through the pain, trying to tell him that she simply couldn't. Not that, anything but that.

If she did something, if something happened because of her, if telling _killed_ people… she could never forgive herself.

"_Jaken's staff_," he snarled.

No.

She wouldn't ruin the fine delicate balance that was the plot.

Darkness crept into the corners of her vision. This was it, she guessed. She wouldn't talk and if she didn't say anything to save herself soon, she wouldn't get air and wouldn't breathe and would die. Strangely simple.

A thousand regrets swarmed her mind. She couldn't say good bye to her family, to her friends, she couldn't see Rin again… Cute little Rin, such an innocent human girl. Rin hadn't deserved to see her family be killed. At least the girl had found Sesshomaru though. Such a strange thing to be thankful for, Shiko mused.

And in a moment of delirious thinking, she wondered. Why had Sesshomaru let Rin stay? The girl was kind and nice, and of course Shiko cared about her, but, honestly, Rin was pretty useless, at least by the standards Sesshomaru seemed to keep. And why Jaken? The toad didn't do much, was rude, crude, and could only use the staff of heads. The two got in his way and must be a burden to him and couldn't really fight. Why?

Loyalty.

In a weird twisted way, Sesshomaru was loyal. How odd.

But Shiko could understand loyalty.

"I- I swear-" she barely managed to say, "f-fealty…"

The pressure on her neck vanished.

Shiko fell to the ground, gasping for air. She could breath, and valued air like gold. On her hands and knees, feeling the ground beneath her fingers, breathing. How good it was to realize that you weren't going to die.

After she had her breath back, Sesshomaru drew his sword.

For a moment, Shiko thought that he was going to kill her anyways, but then he lightly placed the blade on her shoulder. "Do you swear undying loyalty to me?" he asked, only it was like reciting something, and at the same time it was a curious question, like he was unsure if Shiko knew what she was say, "To obey every command? Fight without concern for your own life?"

She nodded hastily. Taking a deep breath and feeling as though she should feel regret, she bent down on one knee and repeated, "I swear loyalty to you, Sesshomaru."

"Then rise," he commanded, sheathing the Tokijin.

Slowly, she did so. She was selling her secrets for her life. What a filthy person she was.

She wet her lips nervously and said, "Please, I need you to know… I don't know how or why I'm here… in this time, I mean. There are things I know, but I don't think I can tell you. I could implode the universe or something equally drastic. So… please… when I say that I _cant_ say, please believe me. I'll tell you what I can, but I… I don't want to cause something… something bad."

There was a pause. Shiko almost flinched, half expecting Sesshomaru to try and kill her again.

"I see," he said calmly, raising an eyebrow.

She let out a breath that she didn't know she had been holding, "Thank you," she said, and really meaning it.

"Are you aware of what Naraku's next plan consists of?" Sesshomaru inquired, cool as a cucumber, as if he did this every day.

Was that safe to tell? Yes, Sesshomaru was there in the battle in the Underworld. Kagura had shown him the other entrance, hadn't she? She nodded, "He is attempting to gain access to the Underworld, um… the same Underworld where you and InuYasha fought… There's a Shikon shard there. The birds back at the castle, those are bloodsucking birds working for the bird Princess Abi. Naraku is going to kill her mother and that's going to open a bridge to the Underworld."

"'The blood of one thousand mortal souls flows through a demon of pure blood and the gates to the Underworld shall open'," Sesshomaru quoted, something from memory, half eaten by the dusts of time.

Shiko hadn't heard that before, "What's that? A proverb or something?"

"A legend," he replied simply. He turned and took a step in the direction where the bird's cave must be.

"Wait!" Shiko called, remembering something, "We can't go that way!"

He glanced back over his shoulder. He was annoyed by her, that much was obvious, "And why not? Naraku is on his way to the Underworld. While I care not if he kills my idiot brother, I will not allow him to desecrate the bones of my father."

"No, that's not what I meant!" Shiko said hastily, "We- _you_ have to take another path in. It's the only way to get the path _out_. The river of blood is a one way trip. Naraku has some little trick so that he can make it back, but InuYasha and the others will go and they won't have a way back. You will, and that's the only way out."

This time, he seemed to listen more. "And what is this other way?" he asked, well, really it was more of a demand for information.

"I… don't really know," Shiko admitted, "There's another entrance, guarded by two statues… there's this door thing that kills you if you try to enter, but… you can get in safely. I don't know the way though."

"That was thoroughly useless," Sesshomaru sneered.

"But I know who does," she said hurriedly, before he could dismiss her plan entirely, "Kagura. She knows the way, and, luckily enough, I might have a way to get her to tell us… That is… if she shows up. She should, I think," her train of thought got slightly tugged off the tracks.

Sesshomaru began walking away.

Shiko hurried nervously after him, "Where are we going?" she asked, falling into a steady pace just a little ways behind him.

"The bird's nest," he replied, more than a tad annoyed.

Swallowing her snarky comments, she followed Sesshomaru.

She had made a bargain for her life, and she couldn't figure out whether or not it had been the right thing to do. Deal with the devil or not.


	20. Dangers of Wind and Rock

S-S: Fanime this weekend! Anyone going, drop me a line, I would love to meet readers!

I don't own InuYasha.

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><p>Kagura dropped to the ground lightly, scowling at her feet for a moment before straightening up to face Naraku.<p>

"The boy, Kohaku, is fine," she informed him, "I left him with Hakudoshi, just like you said."

"Good," Naraku commented, barely even acknowledging that she was there. He was facing the cliff face of the bird's nest, staring at it like he was dissecting it in his head. It looked creepy at terrifying at the same time. It was an expression Kagura knew well, it passed over his face every time that he was cooking up another one of his twisted plans. "Sesshomaru, and the girl, Shiko, are approaching from the south. I do believe they intend to stop me."

He said that as though it was trivial, like the two were flies to be swatted at. For a brief moment, Kagura wondered how he knew, but then the answer was in her head in a minute. He must have those poisonous insects of his all over the place, watching, tracking the movements of everybody who might pose a threat to his plans. She would say it again- creepy.

Kagura flicked her fan open, hiding her mouth behind the finely lacquered paper, "And? What do you want me to do about it?" she asked. Naraku was being particularly vague about this, even for his subtle standards.

After a moment's consideration, he gave her instructions, "Don't interfere. I am interested in seeing what Shiko will chose to do. If they attempt to follow through the river, stop Shiko from going, but let Sesshomaru be."

"And if they don't follow?" Kagura inquired, her hand pausing for a second as she realized what he meant.

"Speak with Shiko," Naraku said, a faint smirk playing across his face, "Offer her whatever she wants in exchange for her services. Anything, but don't promise her a way home. If you must, dangle that in front of her, but don't give her the impression that I'll give her that. Yet, anyways."

She snapped her fan closed, "Got it."

"Stay out of sight," he commanded, walking confidently towards the bird's nest.

Kagura plucked the feather out of her bun, feeling a familiar rush of enjoyment as the wind pulled her up into the air. She soared off to find a nice quiet place from where she could watch but not be watched.

That damn bastard. Kagura was well aware that if Sesshomaru went through the river of blood, there would be no way back. Naraku meant for him to go down to the Underworld and never return- he meant for _everyone _to remain stuck there. Except – and this was what turned the gears in Kagura's mind – except for the human girl Shiko. The one that he wanted on his side, no matter what it took apparently.

What was it that made her so special? Kagura had watched her fight that bird demon thing, and she hadn't been too impressed. The girl was a fighter, sure, but she was only human. Sloppy mistakes, injuries, lack of any outstanding speed or strength. The only interesting part of the whole fight had been at the end, where for some reason the human girl had kept her eyes shut and yet had seemingly perfect vision. That was a bit unexplainable for Kagura. No demonic energy, no miko energy either. It hadn't been a spell that the girl used. Maybe that was it? Some sort of perfect vision skill that Naraku wanted?

That seemed a bit too simple though. If what Naraku wanted was a skill, then he would simply have attacked the girl, absorbed her into his vile body and be done with it all. Could this skill be passed to others by free will only? No, that was idiotic. No powers worked that way, at least, none that Kagura had ever heard of.

She jumped off her feather and landed on a high-up tree branch a few kilometers away from the nest. Her fingers nimbly snatched the falling feather out of the air and placed it back in her bun. From here, she should be able to see what was happening.

Maybe what Naraku wanted wasn't a physical skill. Maybe it was knowledge or information. But what information would Naraku want so badly?

Kagura gasped. "That infant…!"

The girl had taken the child!

Kagura hadn't seen much, she had been sent to pick up Kohaku, but she had seen enough. As soon as the girl had killed the demon, she went straight for where the human lady was and taken the child. Kagura knew that the child was Naraku's heart, it must be, that was the only explanation for things. But how did the girl know? Was this the information that Naraku wanted?

And the words that the human girl had said to her when Kagura had first met her. She had said, 'wind deserves to be free'.

Like she knew how Kagura felt. How could she have known that? Kagura desperately yearned for her freedom, but she had never been so stupid as to openly rebel against Naraku or tell another person that she would turn on her boss. Certainly had never mentioned anything to the Shiko girl. And it wasn't just as though the girl had said that she knew that Kagura wanted out. Those words, those words had practically been Kagura's own thoughts straight out of her head.

Whoever or whatever this girl was, Kagura would find out.

* * *

><p>"You ought to be grateful," Naraku said snidely to InuYasha as the hanyou finished snarling at him for killing the filth that was the demon Abi, "Thanks to me, you are all going to the borderland between this world and the afterlife!"<p>

In one deft move, he sliced off the head of the dying bird.

Huge quantities of blood poured from the severed neck, forming into the river. As Naraku looked back, he saw to his entertainment that InuYasha and his conglomeration of weaklings were following. No Sesshomaru, which was a pity, but not everything could work out. Naraku's plan was falling into place with little effort on his part.

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><p>They arrived just as the river began to vanish.<p>

It was horrible. Bright red blood, gallons and gallons of it, flowing like a great whirlpool towards the point where it vanished. Shiko was standing a few feet behind Sesshomaru as they watched, trying to keep a good distance between her and him in case he decided that she wasn't of any use to him after all. They were a ways away, looking from a cliff top. But even there, Shiko could smell it. The stench of blood invaded her nose with its smell of rusted, gleaming, biting iron.

It disgusted her. She almost gagged from the smell alone. To her annoyance, Sesshomaru didn't seem to mind it at all, even though she knew that his nose could smell it a million times better than she could.

"Looks like you two were a tad late," someone said from behind them.

Shiko turned quickly, hating the feeling of being snuck up on. Sesshomaru didn't even flinch. He probably could smell who it was already. It was Kagura, which didn't surprise Shiko greatly. She had known that Kagura gave Sesshomaru the location the first time around.

"Hello Kagura," Shiko said, trying to keep her voice pleasant, "We were waiting for you to show up."

Kagura nodded briefly to her, but her gaze lingered for a moment longer, on Shiko's hair, on her eyes, on her face, as if Kagura was thinking seriously about something. Had Kagura also figured out that the Infant was Naraku's heart? That had indeed happened, but Shiko could not quite remember exactly when. "You know why I am here then?" Kagura asked, almost unsurprised.

Sesshomaru glanced back at the older woman, "The other entrance to the borderland. You know where it is."

"Huh," Kagura looked a little more shocked, "So what if I do?" she asked tauntingly, recovering her confidence, "I don't have to tell you. I'm just here to deliver a message from Naraku."

"A message?" Sesshomaru echoed, raising an eyebrow icily.

Kagura snapped open her fan and lazily covered the lower half of her face with all the dignity of a fine lady, "Yes, that's what I said," she drawled, "But not for you," her eyes slid over to Shiko, "for you, human girl."

"I think I preferred 'Shiko-sama'," Shiko remarked.

"Do you want the message or not?" the wind witch snapped.

Sesshomaru glared at Kagura, "Deliver your message," he commanded.

She sighed exasperatedly, "All right, since that's all I seem to be good for these days anyway," she practically snarled under her breath, "Naraku says that he wants you on his side, 'Shiko-sama', and he will give you whatever you want in return. And if you do everything that he says, then-"

"That is unacceptable," Sesshomaru coldly interjected, "The human is under my employ."

At the word 'human', Shiko rolled her eyes but nodded anyways, "I agree. Tell Naraku to go screw himself. No matter what he bribes me with, I will never work for that bastard son of a bitch."

Kagura pouted, almost like a child, "You don't even know what he was going to offer you. It might have been worth it."

"I don't _care_," Shiko refused, enunciating each word slowly and carefully, "I refuse."

"Go ahead," Kagura said, closing her fan elegantly and tapping her chin, "It's your loss. Normally, people would jump at an opportunity like yours. What does Naraku want from you anyway? I thought it might be information, but you've done something impressive with your appearance. Is that it?" Kagura looked at Shiko's hair curiously, but less like she was intrigued, and more like she was trying to figure out how to rip Shiko's hair from her head, find out how she did it, and them try it out on herself.

Shiko frowned. How did Kagura figure out that Naraku was after information? Would Kagura try to come after her as well? And if the wind witch did decide to try and take Shiko's knowledge some way or another, would Shiko really be strong enough to fight her off? Kagura wasn't a particularly strong demon, at least not by the usual standards of the show, but Shiko was no demon herself. If it came to a fight between them, Shiko wouldn't look forward to seeing the outcome.

"This is pointless," Sesshomaru snapped, "Reveal the location of the other entrance to the borderland."

Kagura stared at him for a long moment, "_Fine_," she gritted out, "You are aware it's a death sentence. Just… follow me."

* * *

><p>Kagura showed them where the entrance was. It was in this huge cave, so big it couldn't really be called a cave, more of a naturally formed rock cavern-palace. The place was deep underground, smelling heavily of mold and rot and wet stone. It was dark in here too, but not too dark so as to render Shiko blind.<p>

Shiko pressed her hand against the cold rock wall, resting there for a moment before pushing herself off and hurrying after Sesshomaru and Kagura. If she didn't have to keep walking, then she would stop in an instant and turn back and get out of here. This place made her guts crawl around inside her. Like the time she had gotten too near Kikyo, except this was less of her soul and more… _her_.

She was being tugged closer to the gates, whether she liked it or not.

Kagura stopped walking and pointed with her fan, "There," she said, "I'm not going any further than this."

With her eyes, Shiko followed the path of Kagura's fan and saw that the underground cave widened out into a huge cavern. Her soul and her heart gave another painful tug and Shiko could feel herself take unwilling steps towards the gates. Seemingly indifferent to Shiko's struggle, Sesshomaru walked calmly towards the cavern. Unwilling to be left behind, Shiko hurried to follow him, although less effort than she thought was needed. It was as though she was being tugged along.

What was happening to her? Was it because she was close to the gateway? Why would it have an effect like this on her? What _was_ wrong with her? Why hadn't she been able to find Masa? Shiko was sure, for _some_ reason, that Masa would be able to help her.

"_Do you desire passage to the borderland between this world and the next?"_

The words boomed through the cavern, echoing and repeating and yet Shiko wasn't sure where they came from.

The two statues were still.

They were huge. Tall, five or ten times higher than a normal sized person, carved from the same stone as the rest of the underground rock, giving them the appearance of being a naturally formed part of the surroundings. Each held a threatening weapon huge enough to impale a dozen people at once. The statues knelt in front of a large circle of stone, round and perfect and resting on the ground. Chains held the circle in place.

The gate.

Sesshomaru rested one hand on the hilt of the Tensaiga. Shiko had been able to tell him that much, that the Tensaiga would be powerful enough to kill the guardians.

"_Do you want to pass? Or do you not want to pass?"_

Like before, the statues did not open their mouths, yet the words unmistakably came from them.

Shiko felt her eyes getting heavy. No- not her eyes.

Her mind was getting too _light_.

The plan had been to let Sesshomaru open the gates. There hadn't been another way really. He was the only one who could get the guardians to open the gates without killing them first or killing them by using that weird light to turn them into stone. Shiko had been perfectly fine with that plan, she sure as hell didn't want to fight those huge statues, even if she had a way to win against them. Even now, she still wanted to let Sesshomaru fight on his own.

But her body wasn't listening to her mind's commands. Her mind didn't have any commands.

Feeling more in a daze than anything else, she felt herself walk towards the gate. No, not walk – float. She was floating on clouds, her feet feeling nothing when she touched the hard stone ground.

Shiko could think of nothing, could feel nothing.

She did not really register the look on Sesshomaru's face as she walked past him, towards the menacing statues. Her eyes were half-lidded, her lips slightly open to allow wispy puffs of air in.

She held up a hand and placed it on the smooth stone door to the borderland.

Through the stone, up her hand, into her mind and soul, an intense feeling over took her. A feeling of being completely at peace.

"_You may pass_."

With a thundering crack, the chains split in two and fell to the ground in shards. The stone circle opened up, huge half-moons of rock being dragged across the ground. The earth rumbled. Light poured out from the gateway. Shiko's hand fell back to her side.

For a moment, she stood there, not understanding, only barely seeing what was happening.

Then Sesshomaru casually walked past her and into the light.

Uncertain, and unknowing why, Shiko followed him. The light consumed her. And her soul cleared, like a cloud had been lifted from over her.


	21. Battle in the Borderland

S-S: A longer chapter! Yays! Hope this makes up for being gone for so long, I was busy with school and finals and ugh.

I don't own InuYasha. Shiko though, is another story entirely my dear lawyers.

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><p>A still pond has no ripples.<p>

People think that the ripples in a pond make it harder to see clearly, to think properly, that the ripples twist and distort. Shiko knows that's wrong. A still pond is one clear, perfect, and unbroken image. Singular and focused. People cannot think and process around a perfect image, people can only think when their thoughts bounce off other thoughts and create new thoughts that dance through their minds, colliding and creating until these ripples make a pattern, a shape. The mind cannot function properly when still.

As soon as Shiko entered the borderland, a pebble was tossed back into her mind.

Her thoughts organized. The clarity of sorts that she had experienced when she opened the door felt like a dream, her actions felt stupid and rash and hardly her own. She hadn't known what she had been doing. All that remained of those thoughts was the vague memory that she had to be here. She had been tugged towards the borderland by the scruff of her soul and now that she was here, she knew something was different.

The first thing she noticed was how different the air here was.

Out of this place, there had been a tug, pulling her soul to her body. Here, there was no tug. It was as if the spiritual waters outside her body were the same as they were on the inside in this place. Normally there was a difference, her body a stone to keep her soul grounded. Here, she had the vague sensation of floating.

The second thing she noticed was that the ground was suddenly a lot farther away from her feet.

She fell for about two feet, too shocked to scream, before her feet were suddenly on something hard.

Upon looking at what she had fallen on, the urge to scream actually felt stronger. She was standing – crouching, really – on a bird's rib cage. The thing was huge, with dark wings and a skeleton beak. She did remember these strange birds from the borderland, didn't she. They were a lot more freaky in person.

"Sesshomaru!" Shiko called out, looking ahead.

There was a flash of light, and she was suddenly aware of the fact that she was about spiting distance away from a fight.

No, fight was too mundane a word. She was spiting distance from a _battle_.

And behind the battle was the perfect backdrop, the great decaying skeleton of InuYasha and Sesshomaru's father, dressed in armor and missing part of a fang. Even if she had all the calculators in the world, Shiko didn't think she could figure out how huge the skeleton was, but, in a strange and creepy way, it was beautiful.

Sesshomaru was in the sky, flying easily as if remaining airborne was no harder a challenge than breathing. His face was oddly contorted, still with that beauty of his, but furious and deadly, his eyes filled with cold malice and frozen rage. Shiko feared him even though his fury was directed at her enemy and no longer at herself.

With a single sweep of his blade through space, a burst of pure energy shot towards Naraku.

It hit something purple, wavered, vanished.

Shiko nudged the skeleton bird thing and it flew higher and to the side, ready to circle the fight as she took the moment to observe.

Naraku floated in a purple shield that wavered with power, like a very thin sheet of glass or water that protected him. He looked unbearably smug. All was going according to his plans. It occurred to Shiko that before now she had never seen Naraku. She had seen him as a soul and she had seen a glimpse of him as the river of blood closed up, but she had never seen Naraku or seen Naraku fight.

Thick root-like tendrils shot out from the armor around Naraku, streaking towards Sesshomaru as if to try and hurt him.

The Tokijin flashed through the air and Sesshomaru smirked at this small victory, enjoying the taste of battle. As the disgusting flesh of Naraku fell away and disintegrated, the air became filled with miasma.

Almost automatically, the skeleton bird she was riding pulled back to gain more distance from the fighting. But Shiko's blue eyes latched onto a flash of green. Kagome, standing in a hole in the great dog demon's skeleton.

That was Naraku's plan.

Naraku didn't care if Sesshomaru showed up, because it just speeded up his plan. Sesshomaru hacked away at Naraku's body and the miasma slowly spread and killed InuYasha, Kagome, Miroku, Sango, and Shippo.

Shiko couldn't stop Naraku, and she didn't dare to think that she could stop Sesshomaru. But she had to do something. She couldn't just fly around and watch. It was unlikely, but there might be something that she could do to help.

A bright flash of light lit up the sky and the miasma dissipated.

From her uneasy position at the edge of the skeletal cavity, Kagome lowered her bow.

Even though Shiko wasn't exactly close, she could see that Kagome's quiver of arrows was… well… lacking arrows. Just one, and that was Kikyo's, wasn't it? Kagome didn't use that until the end.

Naraku spoke, and it sounded a bit faded in Shiko's ears but she heard it anyways and remembered the lines and pieced the two together, "So what now Sesshomaru?" Naraku said, in that oily taunting voice, "Each time you slice me, miasma will be released. Sooner or later, it will kill everyone here. Even if it does not affect you."

Shiko's hands tightened into fists as she closed her eyes and listened to Sesshomaru's words.

"Is that your argument?" Sesshomaru stated, his eyes narrowing in expertly controlled anger, "I am _not_ so sentimental that I would hold back my blade for the sake of humans."

That was it. Shiko couldn't remember when InuYasha got his act together and learned the Kongo-soha. Who knew? This might have been something that she changed, although she couldn't think how. But she had to do _something_, even if she felt like there was nothing she could do. Her shoulder was still sliced open, no longer bleeding, but still wrapped tight and aching. Her muscles and bones felt pulverized and she had no idea what parts of her she had torn and broken in her earlier fight against the crow demon. She wouldn't be able to fight for even a moment before pain pulled her under.

Fight without concern for her own life.

Damn. She was an idiot.

Shiko flew up, till the skeletal bird hovered thirty or fourty feet above Naraku's shield. Muttering a brief apology to her mount, she reached down and snapped off one of the long curved collar bones of the bird. She gripped it like a blade and felt the weight of it her palm. It was surprisingly light.

Then she stepped out of her body and jumped.

All the pain suddenly dulled and she had a moment to experience the joys of free falling. A moment later she positioned her body correctly and gripped the bone, ready to plunge downwards.

Lithe and catlike, she landed on the top of Naraku's shield and stabbed the blade of bone right towards his head.

Upon contact, the bone shattered into a thousand pieces, exploding in her grip from the solid resistance offered by the shield.

Naraku turned, his arm turning to bone or root and sending her flying with a solid hit to her stomach, too fast for her to avoid, but not too fast for it to be invisible to her soul's eyes.

Shiko skidded through the air, flipped over and landed neatly on one of the rock spires, digging her right hand into the rock and her feet into a tiny ledge to keep herself from falling a thousand feet to the ground. Effortlessly seeing where to place her hands and position her body, she positioned her hands on the top of the spire and preformed an acrobatic flip, her feet sailing over her head.

She crouched down on the top of the rock and pulled out her gun, taking careful aim at Naraku through his shield.

"And so the human girl returns," Naraku slid his eyes over to her, an expression of distaste flickering over his face, "I think that you've chosen the wrong side, don't you?"

Shiko pulled the trigger in response.

The crack of the gunshot propelled the bullet through space. Naraku's shield didn't waver. It didn't break either. But a tiny, hairline crack appeared on the surface.

A brief second of alarm flashed across Naraku's face when he saw that crack.

Shiko's physical body smirked, and she almost didn't recognize it on her own face. Naraku could be defeated, his shield could be broken, she had just proven that. Her gun was one of the most powerful weapons in this time, and she would be damned if her precious weapons couldn't scratch her enemy. She wrapped her finger around the trigger, aiming for the crack.

Naraku raised a finger, a finger that was now rowing in length and spear sharp.

There was another flash of light and Naraku's shield wavered. The crack grew.

Naraku whipped his head around to face Sesshomaru, the Tokijin in his hand still smoking from the blast. Naraku's face was one of anger, "I _was_ in the middle of a conversation," he snarled.

"The human is under my employ," Sesshomaru coldly replied.

Naraku glanced back at Shiko. He seemed almost – disappointed. He had been trying to get her on his side for a long time now, hadn't he? Hadn't he known at the very least that she possessed extraordinary information? Shiko hated that. She hated being seen by him as nothing more than a power piece, a source of information and nothing more than that, no one really important.

"It seems as though you _did _choose the wrong side Shiko," Naraku said, slowly turning to face her again, "I don't desire your death, but I think that it would be preferable to you taking up arms against me. I do not even have to lift a finger. The miasma will make short work of you."

It was true, the sickly dark smoke was everywhere, one could not breath without breathing the poisons in.

Shiko's soul darted in close, through the shield because the shield was nothing to a ghost of a person and she spoke right next to Naraku's ear, "_I don't need to breath_," she whispered.

She fired another shot and then moved to avoid the next attack of Naraku's. Using far more strength than she could have if she wasn't in this out-of-body state, she pushed herself off the spire and sailed through the air, briefly touching down on another rock outcropping to fire a shot at the crack in Naraku's shield.

He flickered out of the way, trying to move behind Shiko, thick root like tendrils from his arms poised to stab her through her head.

Shiko could see it all, even though she hadn't turned her head and Naraku was directly behind her.

She fell forward, the roots missing her by a hair's breadth as she free fell through the air for a moment. Delicately, she executed a perfect roll and landed on a rock shelf a few feet below. She didn't need to stick her neck out to look, she just moved her arm out from behind the rock and fired twice at Naraku, her aim as close to perfect as was physically possible.

The bullets smashed against the shield and the tiny crack spread, thin hairline fractures that grew organically across the purple surface.

Naraku snarled in fury and smashed the rock spire in half.

Shiko jumped out of the way just in time, grabbing onto another rock close by and scrambling to the top, quickly reloading her gun as she went.

"You should not have turned your attention from me," Sesshomaru remarked.

Naraku whirled around to see Sesshomaru's blade smash right into the crack on the shield, splintering it with inhuman force.

The air suddenly exploded with noxious miasma, thick purple that made Shiko struggle to see, even with her perfect soul eyes. It would not bother Sesshomaru at all though, and there was the sound of slicing flesh from inside the smoke screen.

A horde of flying snake demons streaked out of the cloud of gas, a few of the many demons Naraku kept inside himself. Shiko blasted the head off one of them and then stowed her gun, drawing her sword in one fluid motion, expertly cutting down two in her first strike.

The tings were winged, huge, swarming all around Shiko like wasps. She cut them down when she could tight, controlled maneuvers on the little rocky shelf, and they turned to dust when she killed them.

One got beneath her guard and slammed her against the solid wall of rock behind her. It was dead a moment later, and then another bit her thigh, died, a razor sharp cut to her arm, another death.

She was slowing down.

It was true, she didn't need to breath when she was in this Super-Shiko state. But that didn't mean that her physical body didn't need oxygen to keep moving. She had been careful, taking breaths when she could, when the miasma was thin or gone, but now she was standing in a sea of gas, moving her body, burning oxygen like a powerhouse. Her lungs ached for breath, enough that she felt it as more than a flashing red warning light.

She could still move, fight, but she was weakening. Even without the pain, even without the resistance from her muscles, she still could not do that which was physically impossible. She couldn't move shredded muscle, and her feet had about two inches of space on either side to move on, and her damaged arm, the one with the shoulder injury and the recent cut, was getting harder to move.

She took a moment, breathing in a slow painful breath of air.

The cloud of miasma was thinning and she could see Sesshomaru slicing away at Naraku, occasionally able to land a blow on the shield. The cracks grew, but the damage was so slight that there wasn't any real progress.

Shiko took out her gun again, pointlessly and even hopelessly, because she felt her slowness and her tiredness and her pain in her soul, even without feeling it physically.

A few more times firing the gun and her arms might break under the strain. A couple more jumps and her knees might give out. She was running on pure adrenaline, liquid fire that pumped through her veins, that felt so different and so much more powerful when she was out of her body. Sesshomaru was a perfect fighter, effortlessly cutting with his sword and next to him Shiko was weak and pathetic, even in Super-Shiko mode.

There was a flash of light.

And a thousand diamonds shattered through the air, piercing Naraku's shield, clearing away the miasma like a billion needles piercing a tattered cloth.

Almost dazed, Shiko turned to look at the source of the attack.

InuYasha stood at the edge of the hole in the skeleton, the Tetsusaiga covered in diamond, or made of diamond, glittering with the raw power of it. InuYasha turned his head to speak to someone, possibly Hosenki, possibly Kagome.

"Naraku! You're done for!" InuYasha yelled, slashing the blade through space.

Another blast of diamond, this tearing into Naraku's flesh, spearing the demon's chest and body and ripping him to pieces. Naraku because a body filled with gemstone shards.

"Y-you-" Naraku gasped, his eyes narrow slits as he hissed at InuYasha, "h-how-?"

"No strength left to hold your shield, hm?" Sesshomaru smirked, raising the Tokijin, "Time for the final blow!"

The blast of pure energy from the blade turned Naraku into pieces, tiny clumps of impure flesh and a half-head bearing a visage of pure anger. But that wouldn't be enough, Naraku would still live. What was left of his body began to fade.

Behind InuYasha, Kagome reached for Kikyo's arrow.

The light from the arrow exploded across the sky, the power of Kikyo and Kagome together.

And in a burst of light, the arrow, and Naraku vanished.

* * *

><p>Kagura frowned in annoyance at Hakudoshi. The brat had erected his shield for some reason, and he wouldn't answer her question about why. Kohaku was there too, sitting in a corner. The only one missing from their gang of slaves was Kanna. Obviously, Naraku was starting to realize that he couldn't trust his heart to even be around Kagura. Bad luck for her.<p>

Suddenly something arrived inside the shield.

An arrow, glowing with purification energy pierced Hakudoshi's chest.

And Naraku arrived, little more than bits and pieces of Kagura's master, but still, unfortunately, alive.

"Naraku?" Kagura gasped, jumping up from her seat.

Slowly, the pieces rearranged themselves, growing and shaping and twisting into a man. Naraku flexed his fingers experimentally and glanced down at Hakudoshi. The child was still pinned to the floor by the arrow.

"The arrow…" he muttered, "Kikyo is alive."

* * *

><p>Shiko returned her soul to her body.<p>

Her eyes snapped open and she collapsed against the rock, taking deep breaths of air, too tired and in too much pain to do anything. She was truly an idiot. Why had she thought this would be a good idea? There was so much pain, pain that burned and stung and cut and tore and ached in all sorts of ways when she moved at all. God, being hit by a train must hurt less than this.

In the distance, InuYasha and the others were heading towards the portal in the sky, the one that Sesshomaru and Shiko had opened to get here.

Perfect, they had their ride back, at least.

"Are you going to sit there until the portal shuts?" Sesshomaru remarked calmly, looking down at her.

Shiko struggled for a moment, getting her breath back, "Thanks for your concern," she muttered, "I can't move, okay?" she said bitterly, "I'm all beat up," she leaned her head back against the rock and groaned, "God, I feel like an idiot."

"Does being separated from your body remove pain and hindrances?" he asked, although it was clear that he had already worked out the answer, "Humans have limits for a reason."

"Hey," Shiko looked up at him tiredly, "Fight without concern for my own life. Don't make me regret promising that." It had been an oath after all, and even though Shiko was from a time where such things didn't happen, she still had a strong sense of loyalty.

"Let's go," he said simply.

Shiko blinked, about to retort with the fact that she couldn't really stand, let alone get on a bird and fly out when she saw that he had extended his hand towards her.

A faint smile passed over her face as she reached up and took his hand.

Wincing, and leaning heavily on Sesshomaru, she managed to stand up, riding on the same cloud that carried Sesshomaru. He pulled her good arm over his shoulder so that she could stand properly. She let out a sigh and leaned against his shoulder, too wrecked to realize how annoyed he must be by having to offer her, a lowly human, help.

"Thanks," she muttered, a bit peeved by the fact that she had _needed_ help in the first place. She was supposed to be tougher than this, wasn't she?

"You _are_ under my employ," Sesshomaru replied, as if his aid meant nothing, "It would be dishonorable to leave you to die."

"Thanks anyway-" she cut her sentence off with a gasp.

Her eyes fell on a person.

In the distance, behind them, she saw a figure dressed in black walk into the hole in the great skeleton's chest. And then Masa walked out, something glowing in her hands, and vanished into thin air.

"Sesshomaru! Wait!" Shiko said, louder than she had meant to, turning her head to try and look better.

He frowned, "What?"

Shiko's wide eyes looked, but she couldn't see Masa anymore. "I thought… I saw the person I was looking for. I saw her, right there," she tried to point. "She had something in her hands… it was glowing."

"There is no one there, and there is no scent of a demon," Sesshomaru informed her. "You have lost blood and the portal will close soon."

In other words, she might have imagined it and they were pressed for time. "Right…" she muttered, "Sorry…"

They flew towards the hole in the sky, Shiko's brow furrowed. What had Masa been doing there? What had been in her hands? How could she just have vanished into thin air? And why hadn't Shiko been able to find Masa before now if it had been that easy? Or that hard. Why had she been here? Shiko was sure that she hadn't imagined it, Masa _had_ been there, she had.

Sesshomaru arrived in the underground cave that was somehow in the sky.

Slowly, Shiko removed her arm from his shoulder and let him walk ahead of her. She paused and looked back at the borderland, still visible through the gap that was the doorway. Her soul… the air here still felt the same as it had back in the borderland. There hadn't been a change. Maybe it was because she was too close to the door?

She looked forward again. Sesshomaru was a few steps away, and she entertained the notion of asking him for a moment. Maybe it was the statues, though. The great stone creatures were kneeling next to the door, lifeless. Maybe they were causing the strange air.

Shiko stepped forward as the stone gateway began to close.

The cavern lit up with light.

Shiko had a moment to witness the surprise on Sesshomaru's face as she lit up like a christmas-tree. Her eyes went wide as the light pushed out of her body. A silent 'oh' tumbled from her lips. The light got pulled by an invisible hand into the borderland.

The gate shut.

The momentary glow around Shiko snapped off and she fell, like a broken puppet to the ground, her eyes still open.

Sesshomaru caught her head before it hit the ground and laid her down, then he carefully brought two fingers to a point on her wrist. It was useless though, he could smell it clearly on her skin and see the way her chest failed to rise and air didn't pass through her lips.

Shiko was dead.


	22. Love Sweet Lies and Fear Harsh Truth

S-S: Another fucking giant chapter! Enjoy! And the plot starts to roll as we bring back an oc and a character that I don't really like but will deal with; your mom. No, really.

I don't own InuYasha. Masa, Shiko, those I do own.

* * *

><p>Sesshomaru dropped Shiko's body onto the grass. He hadn't left her lying in the cave underground, for some reason it hadn't seemed the right thing to do. Even if <em>she<em> was a human, he was still a demon and demons did have respect for the dead.

It seemed a bit of a waste, he thought.

Most humans were stupid, arrogant, pathetic creatures who attacked the closest thing to them when frightened and killed without reason in their wars in a manner that could be mistaken for one of a low-level, brainless demon. They held no desire for knowledge or understanding, busying themselves in their own unimportant little worlds and ignoring everything else. They didn't think. They didn't comprehend other life forms as sentient. And they were too preoccupied with their own delusions of self-worth.

A very few number of humans were different. So few a number that Sesshomaru could count on one hand how many he had met in his long lifetime. Rin was one. Shiko was the other.

He would never admit it, but he had been impressed when she had proved fluent in four different and unrelated languages. She was clever, for a human. She could read and write in more than just Japanese, which was more than could be said for any other human he had met. Although her speech was rude and unsophisticated for an educated woman, she could switch to acting like a lady of the highest standing when it suited her.

And she was surprisingly strong. Before, he had thought that she might be dangerous because of the information that she had – another mystery – but after seeing her fight in the borderland, he had to admit that she could fight better than many demons. Nowhere near his level, but good enough to take care of any range of demons that couldn't take humanoid shape. Back there she had been in pathetic shape before fighting, and yet…

She had fought Naraku with more grace and elegance than he had ever seen in a human. Sesshomaru was not sure exactly what she could do when she forced her soul from her body, but it probably granted her some sort of inhuman awareness of her surroundings.

Not to mention her gun. Her skill with a blade. And this curious information of hers that was so dangerous she wouldn't say what it was under pain of death and so useful that Naraku seemed willing to offer whatever she wanted in exchange.

Yes. Definitely a waste.

Sesshomaru frowned as he looked at her unmoving body. Perhaps he could take her gun and see how it worked. Make something useful of her death at least. But that wouldn't be the payment he wanted. He had spared her life before because she held information. And information could not pass across dead lips.

Such a waste. Human's were rarely worth keeping alive.

Perhaps… perhaps this one was worth bringing back .

Sesshomaru rested his hand on the handle of the Tensaiga. Strange, normally when he desired to save someone, the blade acted up, but now it was still and as lifeless as Shiko.

He drew the blade and held it over Shiko's body.

But the blade only worked by slaying the messengers of the afterlife. And there were none this time. Did the blade refuse to save this one human? Or should he try anyways?

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," a voice chided him.

Standing next to him was a woman who had not been there a second ago. She was dressed in dark clothing that made the revealing outfit InuYasha's priestess wore look positively modest. The woman had black hair that was dyed with bits of red, like Shiko. Her eyes were a demonic red.

But… she had no scent, no aura, Sesshomaru had not even noticed her presence until she spoke.

He glared at her, "Who are you?" he demanded, refusing to sheath the Tensaiga.

The woman simply grinned, "Call me Masa. I'm sure dear Shiko has said something about me. I'm a friend! I'm the one that can help her! Something like that, anyways."

"Vaguely," he sneered. That was untrue, Shiko had mentioned her search for 'a friend' many times. What she had failed to mention was how aggravating this person was.

Masa clutched a hand to her chest in mock-injury, "Ouch, I'm hurt," she chuckled and then pointed a finger at the Tensaiga, "Really though, I wouldn't do that. As you have probably noticed, that little blade of yours can't bring her back. See, the Tensaiga is a blade that slays the messengers of the underworld that come to collect the soul of the dead. Shiko's soul is trapped in the borderland, which is close enough to the underworld that those imps get a bit confused. Trying to bring her back now would only sever the very last tie between her soul and her body."

Reluctantly, Sesshomaru sheathed the Tensaiga. It might be better to do as this woman asked for the time being. Masa, whoever she was, seemed to be a veritable mine of information and appeared happy to brag about it. "I assume you have another way of reviving her," he inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"And why would you say that?" neither Masa's expression not her voice changed a bit as she asked.

"Had you wished her dead you would have said nothing. Had you not cared, you needn't have appeared here at all," Sesshomaru said coldly. Wasn't it obvious? "There is no other reason for you to be here, your business is with Shiko, not me."

Masa sighed, "Yes, alright. I _don't_ want Shiko dead. Fortunately, her soul is trapped in the borderland and hasn't moved on yet. The borderland is neutral space. We have some time to get her back before there is a bit of a squabble over her soul."

Now that was interesting. Sesshomaru wondered exactly what 'neutral space' meant. Neutral between who? The same people who would fight over a soul, surely. "Then bring her back," Sesshomaru said simply.

"I can't," Masa stated calmly, "I do not have the authority to pull a soul out of the borderland and back into its host body without an official deal having been made."

That sounded like a rule, and the woman had recited it like one as well. "A deal?"

She crossed her arms sternly, "Don't ask. I rarely make deals and bringing a soul back from the borderland would cost more than you can afford. There is no way I can drag Shiko's soul out of there and back here. She should have known better than to go there in the first place. She's not a designated dimension traveler and wouldn't have had enough power to keep her soul tied to her body. I won't bring her back."

"Then why are you here?" Sesshomaru was becoming highly frustrated with this person. Fortunately for her, Masa was telling him enough information to keep her alive and not dead.

"I don't have the authority to bring Shiko back," Masa repeated, a smile on her face, "But I can get you someone who can," she held up a finger in warning, "There is however… a slight problem. You might not like it."

"Stop wasting my time," Sesshomaru barked. This woman, how had Shiko mustered up any desire to even meet her again, let alone seek her out! It was as though Masa had permanently banned herself from getting to the point.

Masa rolled her eyes exasperatedly, as though he was the one being a tiresome idiot and not her, "Oh all right," she said, "Getting dear Shiko's soul back is only half the problem. You see… well…"

That was enough of that. Sesshomaru drew the Tokijin blade and pointed it at her neck, "Find this person and bring Shiko back. Then explain the other half," he growled.

Her red eyes glared at him, "_Fine_," she hissed.

She snapped her fingers…

And vanished.

What had happened? For a moment Sesshomaru thought that there must have been some trick to it. He had never seen that sort of teleportation. Very, very few demons could do that at all, and there was always some sort of preamble to it, a flash of light, something to indicate that they had exerted power to accomplish it. But this… silent, blank. Simply there one moment and gone the next.

Sesshomaru sheathed the Tensaiga and glanced back down at Shiko. Was there some connection between her and this Masa woman other than some strange 'friendship'? What did Shiko know about her?

And he was sure of it now. Masa had no scent. No aura. No presence. How was that possible?

It wasn't wise to trust Masa, but was it possible to trust whoever she found to resurrect Shiko? Bringing someone back from the dead was simple with the Tensaiga but this situation with Shiko was far more complicated than that. Whoever this person was, they might not do their job properly. They might be working for Naraku even, or have an ulterior motive.

"- this _instant_! Let _go_ of my arm, you- _where have you taken me_?!" a shrill voice shrieked.

If Sesshomaru were the type of person to groan and slam their head against a brick wall, he would have done that just now. Instead he sighed painfully at the reappearance of Masa, who was holding tightly to the arm of a woman dressed in expensive white furs. Unlike Masa, who still had no aura or scent, this other person did. And unfortunately Sesshomaru knew exactly who she was.

"Sesshomaru?" his mother asked, looking shocked and partly horrified, "What is this? What's going on?!"

"Hello _mother_," he said painfully.

Masa was grinning from ear to ear, "Sorry Chiyoko-_sama_," she said mockingly, bowing and letting go of the older demon's arm, "But you simply wouldn't shut up so I was forced to take you here by force."

Chiyoko's mouth went slack for a moment, "Who are you?! I demand to know! Why have you brought me here?"

"I take it that _you_ have a way to retrieve souls from the afterlife?" Sesshomaru asked. This was the first that he had heard of this. As far as he had known, his mother had no such skill. She wasn't exactly powerful for an inu-youkai.

"That's what this is about? Could the Tensaiga not suffice?" Chiyoko said, looking distinctly ruffled, "Sesshomaru, who is this woman?"

Masa pointed a finger at Shiko, "I'm Masa, and that's why you're here."

Chiyoko crinkled her nose is disgust, "A dead human," she sneered, "Hardly of great importance. You want _me_ to revive this… creature? What, are you planning on eating her?"

"Just use that handy little stone of yours and I might be so kind as to drop you off in the same place where I picked you up," Masa ordered with fake sweetness, "And don't bother pretending that you don't have it or have used it already, I know that it still works. You can't trick me about this sort of thing."

Stone? Sesshomaru's eyes slid over to the pendant Chiyoko was wearing around her neck. It was dark, like a slice of night sky, strung on a chain of pearls.

"How do you know of the Meidou stone?" Chiyoko demanded, looking regally furious at Masa.

"If it's got to do with resurrection, I know about it," Masa said cheerfully, and then pointed to Shiko's corpse, "Now bring her back from the dead and you can go nice and peaceful."

"_Very well_," she snarled, taking the pendant from around her neck as she strode elegantly towards Shiko.

Chiyoko stooped down to place the stone on Shiko's chest, clearly annoyed by the idea of helping a human. She waved her hand over the stone once and the dark gem shone darkly for a moment. Nothing happened. And then, slowly, Shiko's chest began to rise and fall. Shiko's eyes slowly unclouded and she coughed roughly.

Pursing her lips, Chiyoko removed the stone and placed it around her neck once more, "There, the girl is alive," she declared.

Shiko stared at Chiyoko, then rolled her head to the side, looking at Sesshomaru and then her eyes widened at the sight of Masa, "W-what…?" she groaned, her throat sore. She felt like she had swallowed a bucket of nails.

"You were dead," Chiyoko snapped, and, aggravated, she turned to Masa, "Now if you would be so kind…?" she snarled.

Masa smirked and reached up to touch two fingers to Chiyoko's forehead. The next second Chiyoko was gone.

"Sesshomaru…?" Shiko rasped, slowly pushing herself up, wincing as she strained everything, "Was I… d-dead?"

Shiko didn't want to believe that. She couldn't have been dead. It seemed like one second she had been standing inside the cave and then she had seen her body getting further away. Then she had woken up here. Was that dying? Just not remembering? Or had something else happened? And why had she died? Her injuries had not been that life threatening, and unless something else that she couldn't remember had happened, there was no reason for her to have just died like that.

Sesshomaru just looked at her, like he was trying to figure something out, "Yes," he said slowly.

"And you needed your mother to revive me?" Shiko tried to laugh at that, but it came out half-scratchy half-cough.

"The Tensaiga would not work," he explained.

Shiko blinked. Never in the manga had the Tensaiga failed to work. Only once, that time with Rin, but that had been because Rin had been resurrected with the blade before and it only worked on a person once. Sesshomaru hadn't already used the Tensaiga on her, so there didn't seem to be a reason for it to not work on her. "Why?" she whispered, using one hand to massage her throat.

Masa replied this time, her voice too cheerful, "Tensaiga kills the messengers of the underworld, as you know. Your soul was already in the borderland. Nothing to kill, you see," she beamed at Shiko, "I'm glad you're alive again."

"Why?" Shiko asked again, this time directing her question as Masa.

The woman looked almost hurt, a real hurt this time and not one of her fake hurts, "Because you're my friend. And because, even though you may not believe it, I do want you to remain safe. Had your soul truly passed on and you had died for good, I would have had to fight for your soul. If I had failed you would be in a truly horrible position right now and I couldn't bear that happening to any of my friends."

"I've met you once," Shiko said, "That hardly forms a friendship."

Masa shrugged, "Are you really complaining about me bringing you back?"

"_You_ didn't," Shiko replied.

There was silence. Masa looked sad, "I know. It was beyond my authority."

"What does that even _mean_?" Shiko demanded, exasperated by the woman's ability to dodge the question. She couldn't ask questions before, but now she could and she would be damned if she wasn't going to use and abuse that power to the fullest. She was American. Freedom of speech all the way! "I want answers. Why did I die just now? How come you showed up this time? Who are you really? Why wouldn't you talk to me before?"

"And why do you have no scent, no aura, and no presence?" Sesshomaru added, his voice low and controlled, "Are you even a demon?"

Masa looked them both in the eye, first Sesshomaru and then Shiko. She turned her back to them, "Shiko, the moment you entered the borderland, the bond that kept your soul tied to your body was severed. Think about it. The statues only let the dead pass, and that isn't just a pretty euphemism for killing everyone first. The gateway there was not created as an entrance for the living. It was created as a last resort. Sometimes… when people die, their souls have trouble moving on. The gateway is for the purpose of allowing those souls a chance to pass on. For some reason, when you entered this world, your soul was… loose. The more frequently you left your body the worse the problem became. When you entered the borderland, you became categorized as one of the dead souls that enters there. Your soul remained behind when you left. "

"This world?" Sesshomaru inquired icily, "I was under the impression that you were from the future."

"I am," Shiko said reluctantly, "The future on… another world."

"And what is that supposed to mean? What other worlds are there besides this one and the next?" he seemed more angry at her for hiding it that for making no sense.

Masa waved her hand dismissively, "There are thousands of worlds. More than you can imagine. Shiko is from one particularly close to this one. And future… sort of. Time on different worlds passes differently. The future there is happening at the same time at the past on another world. Inter-dimensional timelines rarely match up."

"So it's not the future because it is occurring at the same time?" Shiko clarified, trying to wrap her mind around this.

"Yes," Masa nodded, the back of her head jerking up and down.

Sesshomaru frowned, his brow furrowing in thought, "Thousands of worlds? Are there many like Shiko, who can travel between worlds?"

"A few," Masa replied, "Gods and other such beings can as well, but they really _don't_. Only seven people can, and there are so many worlds that I doubt you will ever run into another one of them. It takes a very special sort of event to be able to do so. People who can step through worlds are rare."

"And… I'm one of them?" Shiko pointed a shaky finger to herself, unsure as to what the exact implications of that was.

Masa's voice seemed to echo louder than it should have, "No."

"You are being illogical," Sesshomaru interjected, "If she is not able to travel between worlds, and as you said yourself, she is from a different world than this one, then she should not be here."

Another moment of silence before Masa answered, "You're one hundred percent correct. By all rights, Shiko should not be here. That accident of yours should have killed you, Shiko. You were supposed to die that day. Instead, you end up here. You're not a dimension traveler, this world and the one you are originally from are the only ones you will ever be able to reach. For some reason, you were pulled out of that world. Even given a new body here!"

"I… I was supposed to die…?" Shiko froze.

That car crash was supposed to kill her. She wasn't supposed to be alive. She should be lying in a box right now. Sure, it answered some questions but it outraged her. "I'm supposed to be dead?" her hands clenched into fists, "I'm eighteen…" she whispered and then she screamed, "_I'm eighteen_! I've barely _lived_! What about my _parents_!? That's not _fair_!"

"Life isn't fair!" Masa snapped, "Everyone dies, babies die, old people die, young people die, every single person dies, and you are insignificant and tiny and the universe doesn't give a fuck about fair!"

Shiko stood and picked up a rock and threw it at Masa's head with enough force to shatter a brick, "If I'm so _tiny _then why did I live!?"

"_I don't know!_" Masa screamed. She took a deep breath and said more calmly, "I don't know. My only guess is that someone powerful pulled your soul out of that world. Someone so powerful that they even gave you a new body once you were here. Be very, very glad that that someone seems to like you."

Shiko took deep breaths, her heart beat racing in anger. "So I'm alive because of someone that I don't even know?"

"There's only one person in the entire universe that could have done this," Masa said shakily, "And I don't know why they would have saved you. I've looked at your past, I've seen everything that you've done. No offense, but you don't matter at all. Some people are important, but you…? You were dropped into a nothing life and were supposed to have lived some boring happy little existence. There was no reason for this to happen to you."

Shiko was two more remarks away from punching Masa in the face, "And my other questions, if you would be so gracious?" she added snidely.

"It is against the rules to answer the questions of people with a direct tie to the present world's fate system," Masa recited, "In fact, I wasn't supposed to even approach you, but I needed to get the message to you to stay away from Kikyo. You should have listened."

"The Shikon jewel," Sesshomaru filled in, "In what way is it a fate system?"

"In a mysterious way that I could explain if I had a calculator smarter than Einstein and a chalkboard bigger than a castle," Masa retorted.

Shiko rolled her eyes, "Are you going to avoid answering questions all day or can we move on with this?"

Masa turned around and placed her hands sternly on her hips, "You're right," she said, "As I was telling Sesshomaru earlier, there is still a problem. Getting your soul back in your body was only half the equation."

"And the other half is…?" Shiko prompted.

"The problem," Masa began, "is Shiko's soul. Dropping it back in your body was easy. The hard part is going keeping it there. You end up going near someone like Kikyo anytime in the future, or leave your body for too long, or anything really, and you won't be able to find your way back. Now, there's a way to fix it, but it will cost you. Both of you."

Sesshomaru did not seem to like this idea, "Why both of us?"

"Because it's a two-person fix," Masa explained, "It's called a 'chain'. I can chain Shiko's soul to her body, but because she can wander between dimensions, the other end of the chain needs to be attached to a person in this dimension. When the second person dies, Shiko would have twelve hours to find another to carry the chain, or her soul will go straight to the afterlife. Someone with a long lifespan would be preferable."

"Someone with a demonic lifespan, you mean," Sesshomaru finished. He looked at Shiko out of the corner of his eye, "And when she dies?"

"The chain will vanish, you won't be affected," Masa gave him a look, "Shiko would die and it would snap the chain."

Shiko was lost. She was floating in a sea of partial confusion and partial acute awareness that she could only make out in bits and pieces. Chained to Sesshomaru? That seemed so surreal. And it seemed to have more problems that hadn't been addressed. "Hold on," Shiko asked, "So as long as Sesshomaru is alive, my soul won't leave my body, right?"

"Right," Masa confirmed.

"But Sesshomaru might live a thousand years and I'm only going to like maybe a hundred at best," Shiko continued, "Do I just grow old and wither and should die, but am stuck in my body? If I'm killed then the chain snaps, but if I just grow old? What happens then?"

Masa stared at Shiko, "You idiot."

Shiko glared at her in return. "My question is perfectly legitimate and is a real concern, how is it idiotic?!"

"Look at yourself!" Masa exclaimed, "Really look at yourself!"

"What-?" Shiko asked, not understanding.

"You've been here, what, a month?" Masa said, "Your nails were painted black! They haven't grown out! Your hair, Shiko, your hair! It's dyed! Your roots should show but they don't! You haven't got your period, your hair hasn't grown an inch and your wounds heal without scars! You got a new body when you came here and this one isn't ever going to change! You can still be killed but don't think that you will grow old."

She was never going to age.

It seemed like such an impossible thing to think of. Aging was part of life, and now she was never going to look older than eighteen? She was stuck at this age, forever, and some fucker out there had saved her, sure, but they hadn't even asked if she would like to age or not. She felt more outraged than blessed, simply because she hadn't chosen this. Masa's words echoed in her head. Shiko wasn't going to get her period anymore either. Sure, that would make living in feudal Japan a heck of a lot easier, but it meant that she could never have kids. She didn't even get to make the choice. No choice.

"I'm stuck like this… forever." she murmured to herself, unaware that she was standing dumbstruck with her mouth partly open.

"Sorry kid," Masa said, "You now have the lifespan of a demon, that is, if Sesshomaru agrees," she looked back to Sesshomaru, "You do agree, don't you?"

"On one condition," Sesshomaru replied, clearly having thought his answer out, "As long as Shiko agrees to tell me everything."

Shiko held out her hand, "Deal."

Sesshomaru shook her hand, and the deal was made.

"Sorry to break up you two getting along, but there is the small matter of payment," Masa said cheerfully, "See, me making a chain is going to cost you two. I don't do things for free, that's not the way the world works. Part of the rules."

"And what would the payment be?" Sesshomaru asked.

Masa thought for a moment, "Shiko's pocket watch and… the Tokijin."

Shiko reached into the pouch that contained all her belongings and carefully took out her pocket watch. Lovingly, she ran her thumb over the smooth metal cover in a gentle caress, feeling out the raised pattern. She held it out to Masa, who snatched it up. It had vanished as soon as Masa opened her hand again.

Then Masa held out her hand to Sesshomaru.

Slowly, and with careful deliberation, Sesshomaru drew the Tokijin and placed it on Masa's hand.

She closed her fist around the blade and it vanished.

Masa grinned, "Excellent."

She reached down to the long chain that she had wrapped around her waist and unwound it, wrapping it between her fingers so that the curved dark stone on the pendant was between her two palms. Then she pulled her hands apart and thick silver chain links poured out. She grabbed one end of the chain and beckoned for Shiko to come closer.

Shiko gingerly took a step forward. One hand tightly wrapped around the stone, one hand grasping the chain, Masa plunged her hand into Shiko's chest.

Shiko gasped, trying to scream but being unable to. It _hurt_. It was like Masa was digging around in her insides, pulling and tugging at things and Shiko wanted to beg to _make it stop_ but she couldn't breathe and she had to breath to speak. Then the pressure was gone, Shiko could breathe again, and Masa wrapped part of the chain around Shiko's neck.

Then Masa held out the other end of the chain, "Your hand, if you would?" she asked Sesshomaru, who cautiously held out his hand.

With expert speed, Masa wrapped the chain around his wrist.

She tugged on the string of her necklace and the stone was tugged to the center, where it hung loosely from Masa's fingers. Masa placed one hand on Sesshomaru's wrist and the other on Shiko's neck and the chain vanished.

"Done!" Masa proclaimed.

Sesshomaru examined his wrist while Shiko nervously felt her neck. There was no pain or burns from the procedure, but there was a tiny mark in the shape of two chain links on the inside of his wrist, as smooth and natural as his own demonic markings. An identical mark was on the base of Shiko's neck, right where her neck met her shoulder. Shiko rubbed it self-consciously.

"Thanks…" Shiko murmured, although it was directed more towards Sesshomaru than to Masa.

Masa wound the necklace back around her waist, "That chain won't ever break. No need for repairs. Now I'll be off, that was my only legitimate reason to be here after all."

Sesshomaru stopped her, "You haven't answered my questions yet. How do you have no scent and no aura and who or what are you?"

A knowing smile played out across Masa's face as she answered with a riddle, "Many beings have neither. Gods, for one, do not."

"Are you a god?" he demanded.

"No," Masa replied simply, "I am not a god. Nor am I demon or human,"

She added one more thing, and although her mouth opened when she spoke it, the words appeared in their heads more than they heard it, "_All fear me and yet they should not, for they love sweet lies while I am harsh truth._"

And then she vanished.

Shiko let out a breath of air that she had not been aware she had been holding. She turned to Sesshomaru, "Who _was_ she?"

"I do not know," he replied, staring at the point where Masa had vanished. He turned and began to walk away, "Let's go,"

Shiko hurried to catch up, "Go where?"

"Rin, Jaken," Sesshomaru said simply, "And then off to hunt down Naraku."

Shiko smiled, "Sounds great." And the funny thing was, she meant it.


	23. A Psychopompous Letter

S-S: I'M NOT DEAD!

Sorry for the long wait for this update, I promise that I will try to update in a more timely fashion from here on out. Notes for this chapter: yes it's short sorry, psychopomps are real look them up, and it was highly entertaining reading your theories for who Masa is.

I don't own InuYasha.

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><p>They had been traveling for two days, almost non-stop, although Shiko felt the need to remind Sesshomaru every so often that as a human she did still need to eat and sleep and rest. At the end of the second day of walking, Shiko was determined to get a night of rest.<p>

The sun had gone down an hour ago, casting the night sky into a blaze of stars and Shiko had bustled around making a fire like she always did and washing her hair out in a nearby river. Even if she was never going to lose this color, she could at least get rid of the smell of chemicals that Sesshomaru had mentioned. Plus, she really didn't like being dirty. The modern world of daily showers had not prepared her for feudal living.

Her hair still went and loose down her back, she sat down in front of the fire and stared at her bare feet, curling and uncurling her toes around tiny pebbles. She kept her gaze on her feet, aware that Sesshomaru was standing less than ten feet away and Shiko could feel his questions burning away into her skull. She had promised to tell him everything, after all.

"Begin," he said calmly from across the small clearing.

Shiko sighed and ran her fingers over her black nail polish, glad to see that there weren't any chips in the color. It would have to last her a while after all. At least her nails wouldn't grow. "Where would you like me to begin?" she asked, her voice lacking her usual bite.

Sesshomaru seemed to frown at her, even though she didn't give him the satisfaction of eye contact, "Try the beginning," he replied with more than a little bit of sarcasm.

"As Masa said, I'm from another world, although I wasn't really sure about that until she confirmed it for me. A month ago, I was walking towards my house when I…" Shiko's eyes went misty and she hugged her body a little tighter, "I was hit by a car. Umm… a car is like a wagon, only it moves really really fast and is made of metal. Apparently I was supposed to die then, and really I don't what happened. One moment I was there and then the next I was here, alive and perfectly well. I had my gun on me when it happened, so that's where it came from, my time. I was really confused at first, I got chased by villagers and then attacked by a giant snake. Only… the snake was using a Shikon shard and when I found that, I knew I had to get it to Kagome and well… you know the rest."

"And explain the source of your highly unusual information," Sesshomaru growled at her, not in the least distracted.

Shiko still refused to look him in the eye, but slowly found the voice for her explanation and worded in a way that would make sense to Sesshomaru, "In my world… well… there's a story. I guess it's not too well known, but I read it and loved it and I kinda memorized it, or at least chunks of it. Pretty impressive, cause it was a long story. The story was called _InuYasha_. It's about your brother."

Here, Sesshomaru was silent. Shiko glanced up at him and found her gaze frozen to his. He was staring intently at her, and for the first time, it wasn't a hostile stare. He looked at her as though he had never seen anything like her and she was a shining new puzzle to figure out.

"A story about my brother," Sesshomaru echoed, "One that, I assume, tells of my brother's fight against Naraku and explains to some detail Naraku's plans and schemes. And I assume I feature in this story of yours?"

Shiko nodded, "Yes. I knew who you were the moment I saw you. That's how I knew the name of Jaken's staff, that's how I knew that Naraku would be headed to Abi's nest, it's how I even knew how to get to Mt Hakurei. The story is focused on InuYasha, Kagome, and their struggle against Naraku and their journey to complete the Shikon Jewel. That's my problem. I know how messy and complicated the plot of this story is and… although there's a lot of trouble to get through, everything works out in the end, and I can't let my being here ruin everyone else's happy ending. I'm not supposed to be here. I could ruin everything," her voice faded away and she continued to stare at Sesshomaru, hoping that he would somehow understand.

Even though he didn't remove his gaze from hers, his eyes became clouded, like he had cast up a barrier and Shiko no longer had a clue what he was thinking, "I see," Sesshomaru said slowly.

"I'm sorry I can't tell you more," Shiko continued, "Like I said, I don't know what I can and can't say, and there's so much about my world that I can't find words to explain."

"You gave your word that you would reveal everything," he said, "While you have made it quite clear that you are unsure what you can speak of, if I have need of your information, then you must give it, is that understood?"

Shiko hastily nodded, "Yes, I- I will tell you what you need to know." It was a great deal better than not trusting her at all. Besides, she had no idea what she should or shouldn't say, and couldn't think about everything all at once. If Sesshomaru brought up information issue by issue she would have time to think it through before giving an answer and wouldn't have to give away any more than she had to.

"It seems as though I will be weighed down with you for a long time, you will not withhold anything useful," Sesshomaru ordered.

Letting a childish grin cross her face, Shiko added, "If it helps, in my time, I studied history? If you had to have _someone _hanging around for goodness knows how long, aren't you glad it's me?"

Sesshomaru turned away from the fire, casting his face into the shadows of the trees and for the life of her, Shiko couldn't tell if a smile had flickered across his face or if it had been a trick of the firelight.

Shiko leaned back against the fire-baked trunk of a tree, feeling the muscles in her body relax, like a tight ball of stress in her stomach slowly unwinding. The past few days had been ridiculous. She didn't feel like she had stopped moving since the castle went under attack. And it still wasn't over, she still didn't know who or what Masa was and how this new chain thing affected her or her ability to get home. There must be some way to cross the worlds again if she had done it before. Even though Masa had said that Shiko was not actually able to cross worlds, Shiko had done it before, why couldn't she do it again to get home?

"Hey Sesshomaru?" Shiko asked hesitantly, almost regretting the words the moment they left her mouth, "The deal that we made with Masa… why did you give up the Tokijin? You've said it a thousand times, I'm just some useless human to you, why would you give up the sword for my sake?"

There was a pause before Sesshomaru replied, and Shiko still could only see his face through shadows, "The Tokijin was merely a means to an end. Upon commissioning the blade, I believed it would have the power necessary to defeat the Tetsusaiga. It did not, I kept it simply because it served as a barrier against the blade. I do not need such a thing. Useless human though you may be, information is valuable."

Shiko didn't grin this time, although she did have to hold back a smile, "So I'm valuable to you?"

"Information, yes. I however, said nothing about _you_," he replied sharply, and Shiko's smile deflated.

"Pompous ass," Shiko muttered under her breath, forgetting that Sesshomaru was a demon, and that as such, his hearing could easily hear her muttering.

His yellow irises glared at her from the corner of his eyes, "If you are going insult me, do not be a coward."

Shiko cleared her throat awkwardly, "I called you a... pomp... a uh… um…" and then in her struggle for a non-insulting word and her mind still filled with thoughts of her and Sesshomaru's deal with Masa her mind clicked two and two together, "A _psychopomp!_" she yelled in sudden realization.

Sesshomaru turned his head so that Shiko could see him properly again, one eyebrow perfectly raised in criticism. Shiko translated that as him not knowing what a psychopomp was but not saying it because he could never admit that he did not know something.

"Masa! She must be a psychopomp!" Shiko repeated, saying the word in English as she had no idea what its Japanese equivalent would be, "Psychopomps are beings that guide souls to the afterlife. It all fits in with what she was saying! That's what the bit about 'harsh truth' was about, she was speaking about death."

"You believed her riddle to be a comparison to death?" Sesshomaru said with undertones of skepticism.

Shiko almost rolled her eyes at him, "Obviously. I read loads of fanfiction, trust me when I say that I know a death metaphor when I see one."

"If she was speaking of death," Sesshomaru countered, "Is it not more likely that she is a killer with delusions of power? She spoke of restrictions on her abilities, clearly she is not a god, nor is she as powerful as one. That jewel that created the chain, it could be either a powerful artifact or a god's relic."

"True," Shiko admitted. Masa had to be less powerful than a god, because from what she had seen of the gods – namely the brief appearances of the four war gods at the water god – they seemed to pretty much do whatever they liked. Masa kept saying that she hadn't the authority, which meant rules to follow, and someone to enforce them. There weren't many stronger than the gods, gods didn't seem like they had to worry about rules, "But that still fits with my psychopomp theory. Psychopomps are less powerful than gods. Also, Masa said that she knew about all things related to resurrection, which would make sense if her purpose involves guiding the dead to rest. And it explains what I saw when we were leaving the borderland. Masa left with something bright in her hands. A soul," Shiko nodded at Sesshomaru as she thought this theory through, "She must have been taking Hosenki's soul."

"Other worlds can be in different times," Sesshomaru stated, "That explains her physical appearance."

"She does look like she's from my time," Shiko agreed, "And she could be from another world in the first place. Doesn't this world have those nasty little imp things that float over the bodies of the dead?"

"Messenger's of the underworld," he corrected her.

Shiko continued, her voice getting misty as her mind pooled facts and myths into her head, pulled up from the depths of her memories, "If she's one of the people that can travel across worlds, she could be a psychopomp from any world at all. My world has hundreds of legends about them. You've got spirits and angels and some deities, ravens are common representations. Shinigami's, the grim reaper, Mercury, Anubis, Valkyries… different cultures across the world, but it's the same story. A being that appears to you in your time of dying to escort you to the underworld. Masa could just be anyone of those from any world."

"Very well," Sesshomaru agreed, "So this Masa is a psychopomp. What business does she have here, on this world? And she appears to the living as well as the dead."

Shrugging, Shiko guessed, "Rule breaker?"

Shiko could feel Sesshomaru mentally rolling his eyes at her when he responded, "The _jewel_."

"Which is… some sort of powerful object, right?" Shiko answered, "Oh, that makes sense! She said that there were so few people who could travel between the worlds, and if she was one of them, she could just appear next to a god, steal a holy relic, and then leave into another world. Like teleportation, except I'm not sure if it's more or less awesome."

So Masa was a thief then, was she? A shiver ran down Shiko's spine and re-wound the stress spring. If Masa was a thief, regardless of whether or not her intentions had been honorable, then had Shiko really made the right decision in allowing her to mess with her own soul? What if Masa had designed the chain to malfunction? Although so far Masa had not done anything hostile towards Shiko, Shiko had seen far too many villains act trustworthy right until the moment to reveal their evil. If the chain broke, or did something equally horrible, what then?

And Shiko did not know if she could count on Sesshomaru to help her. Certainly, she had useful information on both the plot and the next five hundred years of human history, but what happened when she could no longer remember everything her history textbooks told her? Or if something she did varied the future of if this future on a different world was different and she got something wrong? What then? Would Sesshomaru just kill her or would he simply have to let go of the chain? There was another worrying thought, Sesshomaru didn't care about the chain. If it broke, Shiko would be the only one to pay the price.

Directly confronting Masa might do more harm than good, especially if Masa wanted to keep her theft a secret. But then why use the jewel at all? Did Masa have some other reason to help Shiko? If Masa had stolen the stone, then surely she would want to keep such a thing secret, and yet she used it for a powerful magical spell and wore it around her waist like a trophy. Bragging? Or perhaps, maybe the person that originally held the stone _gave_ it to Masa. But why?

"Why?" Shiko asked, voicing her thoughts out-loud, "Why would Masa steal something and then use it openly? Is she bragging? Did someone give her the stone of their own free will?"

"Doubtful," Sesshomaru replied, "The weak have a habit of stealing from the strong. That jewel would have considerable power, such a thing would not be given freely to a weaker being."

True, although Shiko wasn't a fan of the way Sesshomaru worded his statement. "Do you think… that she messed with the chain? With my soul?" Shiko said quietly.

There was all too long a pause before Sesshomaru readily answered, "Find out."

Taking a nervous breath of air, Shiko let her mind slip into the perfect state of, not calm no, but a strange motion that allowed her to- she breathed out as her soul stepped out of her body.

She looked all around, feeling nothing wrong.

Her vision was fine, she could still see, there did not seem to be any sudden restrictions of mental process, no slipping towards the light and or darkness. If anything, she felt even better than when she used to do this. She took a hesitant step away from her body. Even though before she hadn't had much trouble after a while getting far from her body, now there wasn't even the slightest tug.

It was like she had split herself into two different entities, and the bond between them, if there was any, had no limitations or restrictions.

Looking back at herself, she saw something new. From around the neck of her body, a thick heavy chain made of translucent silver wrapped around her neck twice and then one end floated through the air as if unaffected by gravity to rest in Shiko's chest. The other end formed a line to Sesshomaru, winding around his wrist.

She reached a hand out to touch the chain but she couldn't feel anything. Nor was there any confusion, however slight, at seeing her body move when she wasn't in it. It must have looked strange to Sesshomaru, Shiko's eyes closed and her hand trying to feel out something invisible.

Shiko made to go back into her body and then _snap_, she was instantaneously tugged back into her body without the slightest discomfort.

"Wow," Shiko said breathily, "That was amazing. Nothing wrong with it at all, better than ever and I can snap back into my body in a moment!"

"Then it seems," Sesshomaru reasoned calmly, "That whatever this Masa's plans are, they involve you unharmed."

The elation vanished, "Yeah, but does that make the situation better or worse?" Shiko asked nervously.

Typical of him though it was, it still felt foreboding to Shiko that Sesshomaru gave her no answer.

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><p>Fortunately for Shiko, she managed a few precious hours of sleep that night. They set out again early in the morning, Sesshomaru, probably impatient to get back to Rin, set a faster pace than before.<p>

The mid-afternoon sun shone down on Shiko before there was any sign of getting closer. Sesshomaru walked faster than before, so that Shiko had to take longer and more hurried strides to catch up. If she didn't know him better she would say she was nervous.

Suddenly, Sesshomaru came to a sudden halt.

Shiko tripped over her feet in her rush to not face-plant into his back and then looked up at him. If she didn't know him better she would say that he looked worried. But that was ridiculous, she had never seen Sesshomaru looked worried, certainly the idea that he was worried for her was laughable and the only thing that could really worry him would be if there was trouble with Rin…

And then in a blur of speed Sesshomaru disappeared, too fast for Shiko to see him.

Cursing herself, Shiko ran after him, heat pounding in her ears as she rushed through the forest, branches whipping her face and leaving long red marks where they stung her skin. The idea of Rin in trouble was almost unthinkable, but then, it had happened before and there was no reason to say that it could not happen again. Shiko ran faster than ever, too panicked to think of going into Super Shiko mode, too scared to pause for breath.

At last she broke through into a clearing and gasped, not for breath, but out of shock.

No wonder Sesshomaru had been worried. He must have smelled it when they were in the forest.

"Oh my god," Shiko whispered.

There were long, parabola shaped scorch marks on the ground, Ah-Un the dragon was unconscious and had clearly been thrown against a tree. Dark streaks of black dragon's blood stained the ground and in the center of the clearing, Jaken's staff lay fallen on the grass.

That wasn't the worst though.

Jaken hung suspended in mid-air, unmoving, toadish eyes still wide open. His face was contorted into one of great horror. A sheet of paper was pinned to his kimono.

Sesshomaru reached up and placed a single finger on the paper.

With a great thud, Jaken was released from whatever spell had held him there and fell to the ground. Slowly, he came to his senses, his eyes blinking in confusion as he wildly looked around the clearing and jumped up only to fall back to his knees. Then he noticed Sesshomaru, "My lord! What- I- there was this man, he-"

With a single glare Jaken was silenced. Sesshomaru's cold hard eyes read whatever was on the paper, twice. "Who?" he asked, his voice practically booming with silence, "Naraku?"

Jaken shook his head frantically, "N-no my lord! I've never seen this person before in my life!"

"What is that?" Shiko asked quietly, pointing at the piece of paper.

Sesshomaru slid his eyes to hers, "A letter. They have Rin. And there is no scent. Whoever your friend Masa is, she is not the only psychopomp in this world," he slowly held out the letter to her.

Shiko extended a hand and took the paper, reading it quickly. "It's in English," she said in surprise as she read the first line, "Addressed to _me_?"

_Shiko Higure,_

_I have your friend Rin. Do not worry, the girl will come to no harm so long as you show up. There is no chance you will not. show up either. There are a few friends here that I would like you to meet._

_Good luck on your journey, I have been reliably informed it is an unpleasant one._

Only just finishing the letter, Shiko looked back up at Sesshomaru, utterly confused, "What does it mean-?"

And then she vanished.


	24. Firelight in the Darkness

S-S: And now we get to the real meat and potatoes after that cliffhanger last chapter! Enjoy!

And I don't own InuYasha.

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><p>Shiko was being ripped apart and tugged and torn and pulled through space. She could not open her mouth and scream.<p>

And then- zap.

She fell, dizzy and bewildered, onto cold hard ground. Oh god, her head spun and ached like she had just been hit by a thousand ton truck and every muscle in her body must have been smashed with a meat tenderizer. Whoever the little fucker was that had sent that note had been right about one thing- the trip was certainly not a pleasant one.

Slowly, she pushed herself off the ground.

Wherever she was, it was dark. The only thing she could see was the note that she had received fall gently through the air and then burst into a sputter of flames. The fire consumed the paper and a handful of ash fell to the ground.

The darkness blinding Shiko, but her eyes gradually became accustomed to the black and she squinted and saw a distant flickering of purple light farther ahead.

Stumbling over her own feet for the first few steps, she began to make her way towards the light. Where was she? Who had sent that note and where had it taken her? That must have been some sort of teleportation spell or something attached to the note. But for the life of her, she couldn't remember anything like that ever happening in either the anime or the manga. Was Sesshomaru right then, in saying that Masa wasn't the only psychopomp in this world? And speaking of Sesshomaru, that was the thing that was worrying Shiko the most. He had held the letter as well, before Shiko, but the note hadn't teleported him anywhere. The spell must have been there for Shiko and Shiko alone.

The flames grew brighter, and Shiko realized she must be approaching the source of the light. From the gentle glow, the outline of a person could be seen, someone sitting next to the handful of flames.

"Hello?" Shiko called out hesitantly, walking more quickly towards the light.

The figure shifted, and Shiko thought that the person must have turned its head or something, "Who are you?" a cool female voice asked.

Shiko stepped closer and the pink-purple flames grew with a flick of the person's hand. "My name is Shiko, and who-"

Kikyo stood and surveyed Shiko sharply, "I have seen you before, yes?"

"I collapsed on the edge of a gorge when you were almost killed by Naraku and your soul stealers tried to suck the soul out of my living body," Shiko said with a groan, "And you're Kikyo. I've… heard about you."

Shiko held out her hand. Kikyo glanced down at her hand and then back up at Shiko coldly. "Well…" Shiko said under her breath, "I can see we're going to get along like a house on fire," she cleared her throat and asked, "So… how long have you been here?"

"… A few minutes, not more," Kikyo replied after a moment's pause.

"And any idea where here is?" Shiko asked again, looking out all around them at the seemingly endless blackness.

"No," Kikyo admitted. "Although the likelihood is that this chamber is underground. If there is a door or exit, it is well guarded against light."

Shiko looked up, although there was no visible ceiling, "This place can't be that large," she said, mostly to herself, "There isn't much of an echo."

Saying nothing, Kikyo turned back to the fire, which Shiko now realized was a handful of sacred flames, probably conjured from a miko's power. "I assume that you received a note, and, upon its touch, you were transported here? Have you an idea as to who the sender is?"

Shiko shook her head, "Not a clue. However, I can tell you that whoever sent us here is choosy. First, they captured Rin, the girl that travels with Sesshomaru. Probably as ransom, or to make sure that we don't do anything the sender doesn't want. Also, Sesshomaru touched the note before me, but nothing happened. Sent for us and us alone. The note only teleported me after I had already read it, and disappeared with a burst of fire when I arrived. The sender is showing off. They brag with the timing and activation of the spell and then have a showy way of getting rid of any possible thing to trace them with."

Kikyo actually looked mildly impressed with Shiko's deduction, which was saying something, as Kikyo had never seemed to be impressed at all, "Both of my shikigami dolls had been destroyed by whomever the sender is. This person is powerful. Teleportation spells are draining, and never used. However, there was no spiritual aura of any sort around the site when I arrived. Was there an aura or scent surrounding the place where your letter was left?"

"No," Shiko replied, her hand cupping her chin in a pose of deep thought, "There was nothing."

"Perhaps the mirror girl that works for Naraku-" Kikyo began to say, but Shiko cut her off.

Again, Shiko shook her head, "No. Jaken said that the sender was definitely male, and unfamiliar. Whoever this is, it's not Naraku. Although they do seem to be just as… oh what's the word?... _elegant_."

Kikyo almost snorted, and she sneered slightly at Shiko, "Elegant?"

"What?" Shiko bristled defensively, "Naraku does have an elegance to the way that he does things. And this person seems to as well, and they also are powerful and damn proud of it and love showing off. We've learned something about our opponent."

"You certainly know a lot about this mysterious enemy for never having met him," Kikyo commented, sounding harmless, but there was clearly an undertone of suspicion.

Shiko glared at her, "What do you want me to say? That this guy is a white male, aged 20-30 with a background in musical theater? I'm not a freaking detective! I watch procedural cop shows and Silence of the Lambs for crying out loud! _That _is the extent of my psycho-analytical training!"

If Kikyo had known what Shiko was talking about, she might have replied with something clever. As it stands, Kikyo had no idea what the hell Shiko was talking about, and the utter confusion showed plainly on her face. "I was merely-" Kikyo began to say.

"H-Hello?!" Someone called out from the darkness, "Wh-who's there?"

With a jolt, Shiko turned to face the source of the noise. She knew that voice! Slowly, a figure walked into the pale light of the holy fire, "Kagome!" Shiko exclaimed, "What are you doing here?"

Something was definitely wrong. Kagome looked badly shaken, her eyes were red and puffy, and there were faint traces of tears on her cheeks, "Shiko! K-Kikyo…" she acknowledged the two with a smile and a shaky nod, respectively, "I-I have no idea what I'm doing here. There was this note, it- it took me here."

Shiko put a hand on Kagome's shoulder in what she hoped was a comforting manner, "Yeah, same here. For the both of us," she said, glancing over at a stony-faced Kikyo.

"Where are we, why are we here?" Kagome asked, hastening to rub the tear marks off her face, "Is it Naraku?"

"No, it's not Naraku," Shiko reassured her , "Small blessings, right?" she frowned as the trickle of tears from Kagome's eyes did not stop, "Kagome? Are you alright? What happened?"

Kagome's glistening eyes stared at Shiko, "They- they took Shippo!" she blurted out, "Shippo was gone, Kirara was hurt, and I don't know where Shippo is!" Kagome collapsed against Shiko, crying into the older girl's shoulder.

Startled by the sudden embrace, Shiko awkwardly patted Kagome on the back. "It's okay… he got Rin too…" Shiko said quietly as Kagome sobbed, "They're safe, I'm sure of it."

There was a pause in Kagome's tears as she glanced up at Shiko, "You think so?"

Shiko nodded, "Shippo and Rin were taken for a reason. Why would this person kill them? As long as we don't do anything, those two should be fine."

Slowly, Kagome's tears began to dry. God, poor Kagome. Shiko had seen what she was like with Shippo, so protective of the boy all the time. Kagome must feel like his mother or something like that, and she must have been so worried, at least Shiko had right away come to the conclusion that Rin was a hostage and wouldn't be harmed so long Shiko did what she was told. It worried all of them however, that they had no idea who they were up against.

"_**Welcome**_!" An unfamiliar voice boomed out.

At once, the three women turned to face the source of the new voice. Shiko had no idea who it was- she had never heard this voice before. Were there more people trapped down here?

The person was a man, probably in his twenties. He had short white hair and wore a white trench coat over pale jeans and a t-shirt. His eyes glinted blood red in the firelight. An almost insane sort of grin was hanging on his face, but it didn't seem to belong there, he seemed elated but not happy. "It is a pleasure to welcome you three here!" he declared, sweeping into an elaborate bow that was entirely fake, "I am glad to see you all got my invitation."

In a second, Kikyo had readied her bow and held the string taunt, an arrow poised to fly through this man's heart, "You brought us here against our will," she hissed, like a judge reading out the crimes.

The man's grin grew, "Oh yes," he readily replied, seeming more proud than concerned about Kikyo's loaded bow, "All of you seem to have arrived in one piece, good, good… You may call me Ichirou."

Shiko glared at him. That wasn't a name, and that wasn't an identity. It was a working pseudonym that told people nothing about him and gave nothing away. "And who are you?" Shiko demanded.

"Clever, young Shiko," Ichirou said patronizingly, "You've had experience working with our kind, haven't you? Fortunately, my little spell that brought you all here…" he turned his red eyes to Kagome's, "Well, it seems to have left those precious Shikon shards behind. We are free to converse in peace. I find avoiding answers tiresome."

Kagome reached a hand into her pocket, searching for the tiny glass bottle and gasped in realization, "It's gone!"

"Plenty safe, I assure you," Ichirou commented carelessly, "It merely stayed behind when you left."

"So why aren't people like you and Masa allowed to answer questions in the presence of the jewel shards?" Shiko persisted. If she could stall, confuse, worm some answers out of this man, then maybe she would find something useful. "It's this world's main 'fate system', isn't it? You aren't allowed to give undue information to those influenced by it, right? Why is that? Seems an oddly specific sort of limitation to have."

The grin on Ichirou's face faded slightly, "Correct on all accounts, but do not think that you know anything about me or my sister."

Shiko gaped, wide-eyed for a moment, "Sister? Masa is your sister?"

Ichirou nodded, "Yes, although please, don't assume that I am anything like her. I do not share her fascination with befriending every person that crosses my path," he glanced over at Kikyo, who was still poised to shoot him, "Please, dead one, lower your bow. Sacred arrows shall do nothing to harm me, and animosity is hardly the way to begin a polite conversation."

"You began the animosity when you abducted us," Kikyo replied coldly, refusing to lower her bow, "We did nothing to you."

Ichirou sighed, "Very well. It hardly matters, I suppose. Though as I said, those will do no good against me."

A shudder ran though Shiko as she remembered something Masa had said to her upon their first meeting. Beings like her and Ichirou could not tell lies. "I asked you a question. Who are you really?" Shiko demanded, "You cannot lie to me."

His red eyes turned icy and frigid, "No, I cannot. However, I am under no such obligation to answer you, nor am I forbidden from only telling partial truths. You cannot win against me in my own game, I have been playing in riddles for longer than you could dream of."

"Then speak truthfully," Kagome spoke up, her voice surprisingly strong, "Where are Shippo and Rin? Why are we here?"

A faint and crooked smile returned to Ichirou's lips, "Now _those_ are the right questions. The two children are with Naraku, however no harm will come to them under a few conditions. See, I have called you three here to perform a few… experiments. And I don't want any of you breaking the rules. Call it insurance, hostages, whatever you want."

"Experiments?" Kagome echoed, sounding terrified.

Ichirou nodded, "Precisely. You see, our dear friend Shiko over here isn't from this world. She's from another world entirely," he rolled the words over his tongue like a snake and they didn't sound right or true, "And when she got here, her soul got a bit… detached. You have all seen it. When dear Shiko approached Kikyo once, her soul got torn right out of her body."

Shiko flinched. How the hell did this bastard know that? What the fuck was he, some sort of creepy stalker? Did being a psychopomp mean that he got automatically alerted when someone's soul got a little funky? "Oh don't you worry about my soul," Shiko said tersely, "I can handle it perfectly fine."

Ichirou gave her a patronizing look, "So I've decided to play a little game. 2 hours! Winner takes all! Kagome- you will remain here. Do anything, move, fight, even talk, and little Shippo gets killed."

Kagome froze, her hands trembling around her bow.

"Kikyo and Shiko will begin the game at opposite sides of this little maze," Ichirou continued his twisted grin returning, "Shiko- if you even think about using that little trick of yours to slip out of this place and alert someone- Rin gets killed."

Shiko just glared at him. Well, there goes that plan.

"The rules are simple!" Ichirou spread his arms dramatically, "Kikyo versus Shiko, fight to the death!"

And in a flash of light, he vanished.

There was a second when Shiko's heart stopped and she glanced at Kikyo. The priestess's face was hardened, focused, but determined. And it was clear that Kikyo would have no problems at all with putting an arrow through Shiko's heart.

Then there was a tug, and Shiko and Kikyo where pulled into opposite ends of the darkness.

* * *

><p>Sesshomaru stared at the spot where Shiko had vanished. Another person taken by whoever this was. At least he knew one thing, wherever Shiko was, Rin was as well.<p>

"My Lord…?" Jaken asked hesitantly.

Sesshomaru ignored him. Someone had dared to abduct Rin.

Whoever this psychopomp was, Sesshomaru would hunt him down and kill him in the most painful way he could think of. Taking Rin, injuring Ah-Un, immobilizing Jaken, and then taking Shiko right in front of him. This enemy was cocky and overconfident and would pay with his life. Why Rin? A hostage? Then why take Shiko as well? In fact, it seemed almost as though the whole point of taking Rin and setting up the show was to take Shiko. The girl had few attributes worth mentioning, nothing that would warrant such an elaborate display of power. Was this psychopomp after whatever special attribute her soul had? If so, he was in for disappointment when he discovered the chain-

The chain.

There was a link, between Shiko's soul and her body. But also one that kept her tied to this world. To him. Shiko and Rin should be in the same place after all. It was worth a try.

Sesshomaru held up his wrist, observing the small chain-link design that rested just above his own demonic markings.

_Find Shiko_.

Slowly, a thin, semi-opaque chain appeared. It was only visible when it glinted in the light, but it was clearly there all the same. It wound out of nothing, wrapping around his wrist once and then slithering through the air for a few feet until it vanished into the distance. Sesshomaru rotated his wrist, but the chain remained pointed in the same direction. Perfect. A direct line to Shiko, and by default, Rin. And to the enemy who had signed a death wish.

A faint, vicious smirk appeared on his face. Let the hunt begin.

* * *

><p>"InuYasha, you have to keep your head!" Miroku insisted, trying to calm down the furious hanyou, "Fuming won't help Kagome or Shippo!"<p>

"God damn it Miroku!" InuYasha snarled, seeing red, enraged almost beyond reason. Some bastard had taken Kagome and Shippo! "I have to get them back! I don't care if I do if fuming or fucking calm, I'm gonna hunt down the fucker that did this and fucking _murder_ them!"

Sango, holding an injured Kirara in her arms, said softly, "Miroku is right InuYasha. We all want Kagome and Shippo back, don't think that you're alone in that. But we can't simply rush off without an idea of who we're facing. We don't even know where Shippo and Kagome are."

InuYasha turned to Sango, "I don't care! I can't sit here and think and do nothing!"

"We can't run off if we don't know where we're running too!" Miroku said forcefully, "You have to understand that InuYasha! We'll get Kagome and Shippo back! But we can't when we don't know where we're going and you running off is only going to divide us!"

"But-" InuYasha tried to argue.

"Shut up, both of you!" Sango suddenly yelled, "Look!"

She pointed to the bottle of Shikon shards that Kagome had left behind.

Slowly, before their very eyes, the bottle of shards was being lifted up into the air by some unseen force. It hovered at eye level, and slowly, the cork was wormed out of the glass. A single shard was lifted from the bottle and then flew to the right, imbedding itself in a tree.

"What the hell?" InuYasha vocalized, "What the fuck did that?"

"No idea," Miroku commented, "But it looks as though we've got our direction."


	25. And They Danced in the Dark

S-S: Hey, longer chapter this time, aint you all proud of me?! And so we find out a little more about our good friend Ichirou in this chapter. Enjoy!

I owneth not InuYasha.

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><p>Shiko was alone in the dark.<p>

She could barely see, and she waved her hand in front of her face. That, at least, she could see. She took a deep breath and slid her gun out of her obi, keeping her finger on the trigger and the weapon at the ready. While she knew that she and Kikyo had started on opposite ends of wherever the fuck they were, Kikyo could conjure those flames, giving her a source of light to find her way. Shiko was blind.

Trying to move as quietly as possible, Shiko made her way back towards the center of the room- or the direction opposite of the direction she had been pulled. Of course, Ichirou could have turned her around during the spell, but going this way was as good as it got.

As she moved silently back towards the middle, Shiko ran through Kikyo's options.

There was no way that Kikyo wouldn't play to the rules set by Ichirou. Her weapons were useless against him, and Kikyo would be determined to survive. Had Kagome been Shiko's opponent, there would be no fight at all, Kagome wouldn't hurt someone who wasn't her enemy. Kikyo on the other hand, was ruthless. She had held no problem in the manga with stealing the jewel shard from Kagome and giving them to Naraku. In Kikyo's mind, she had to survive because she honestly believed that she was the only person who could defeat Naraku. No, reasoning with Kikyo wasn't an option.

After walking slowly and carefully for a few minutes, Shiko realized that this wasn't getting anything done.

Ichirou had said that she couldn't leave this place and warn anyone right? But he hadn't forbidden her from leaving her body.

Shiko slipped out of her body.

"Wow," she whispered in awe.

She could _see_.

It was like having an extra fifty feet of vision added to her eyesight. In her body, she could barely see ten feet ahead of her, now she could see almost as far as she wanted. This place was a maze though, and that Ichirou had been justified in calling it that. The place was like a great rocky cavern of sorts, probably far underground. An uneven cave wall stood about twenty feet behind her and she was standing in a passageway of sorts and twisted and turned out of sight. Shiko took a step back, for she had been an inch away from a huge stalactite that hung menacingly from the top of the rocky cave. She had been wrong in her statement earlier, this place was huge.

She had to get a better idea of where Kikyo was, or she would never even be able to begin this fight, let alone win.

Shiko flew far ahead in a remarkably short span of time. The passageway winded many times and split off into multiple corridors at places. She would find herself flying down a corridor only to see that it lead into an unending circle or a dead end of looped back to its original starting point. Very few passageways actually led forward, and it took Shiko quite a while to flitter through all of them, even though her soul was an insubstantial as dust and as fast as she willed it. For anyone else, the true path might have taken hours to find, or would have never been found at all. It would be easy to get lost in here forever, simply wandering without hope of finding some exit, eventually dying from starvation or dehydration or if one of the unstable stalactites fell and pierced the lost person. She felt her physical body shiver at the thought.

There must be some sort of central chamber, where the three of them had been dropped originally, and where Kagome must still be. That had to been where Kikyo would be headed as well, although Shiko had never fought the priestess, surely Kikyo had the common sense not to remain in the tunnels forever. A fight here would be highly impractical, what with the pillars of stone and the fact that sometime the passages grew thin and then wide again at unpredictable intervals.

Eventually, Shiko's soul stumbled out of the passageway and into a huge open chamber. Far in the center, Kagome sat huddled on the ground, her arms wrapped around herself pitifully, with no remnant of the sacred flames to keep her vision illuminated.

Shiko was lucky that she could see the chain that connected her body to her soul, or else she might have never found her way back to her physical form. That was a terrifying prospect.

She hurried back, following closely to the chain, memorizing the turns she took. After a while, she flew back into her body, took a few deep breaths to steady herself, and then took off down the hall at a fast stride. After all, she only had two hours and Rin's life was at stake. Who knew how much time it had taken her to find her way out. She allowed her soul to fly a few feet ahead of her as well, so that she could still see her way as clear as possible.

Her footsteps did not echo, but they were oddly audible. Shiko's ears kept insisting that there should be an echo, the cave should supply the reverberations of sound that she kept thinking she heard, but it was as if the cave had tricked itself into thinking that it did not produce an echo. How peculiar, she thought.

A few minutes later, Shiko had effectively bypassed all false passageways and dead ends, and was standing at the edge of the huge open cavern.

There were dozens of other passages leading off from the circular cave, but only one was directly opposite the tunnel Shiko had emerged from. Her guess was that was where Kikyo had been sent.

Shiko began to take a few steps towards Kagome.

A flicker of movement caught her attention.

Kikyo emerged from the tunnel.

The priestess held one hand to the rock wall, probably having found her way out by touch, as there weren't any of those small flames near her. It seemed as though Kikyo was foregoing vision in favor of getting a surprise attack on Shiko. The joke was on her then, as Shiko could see perfectly fine and Kikyo was only blinding herself for no reason.

Shiko stealthily moved around the cavern, hugging the walls and keeping a tight grip on her gun. She had the element of surprise and she wasn't going to waste it. Kikyo did not seem to be making an attempt to move at all, instead, she was merely standing there and gazing about the cave, her bow loaded with an arrow, as ready to shoot as Shiko was.

In a flash, Kikyo turned to Shiko, drew her bow and fired.

Gasping in surprise, Shiko dropped to the ground, the arrow digging into the stone wall behind her.

Crouching low on the ground, Shiko fired two quick consecutive shots and then, not even waiting to see if they hit, she tucked her knees in and rolled to take cover in the passageway behind her. She pressed her back to the cold wall, her body tucked into a small crouch with her gun held up, her heart beating loud as a drum as blood and adrenaline surged through her system.

Kikyo appeared unharmed and was loading another arrow, striding confidently towards Shiko's position, although her eyes still darted about through the darkness.

Shiko would have cursed. Kikyo must have figured out where she was through sound. That was why Kikyo had taken care to not even move, making no noise whatsoever while Shiko had been moving around. Even as quietly as she could, there must still have been some slight noise that got back to Kikyo.

Well. Two could play at that game.

Waiting, breath held in anticipation, Shiko watched Kikyo move nearer and nearer to her position. When Kikyo was close, Shiko's soul darted to the other side of the cavern and she yelled, "_Kikyo!"_

Kikyo whirled to face where Shiko's voice had come from and shot her bow, losing an arrow to the trick and wasting her chance to find Shiko. In that moment, Shiko had moved out of the way, navigating her way through the passage that she found herself in, getting away from the main cavern and from Kikyo. Behind her, Shiko could hear Kikyo's footsteps hurrying in the opposite direction, towards where Shiko's soul had been only a few moments ago.

After putting a good amount of distance of twisted and splintering tunnel between her and Kikyo, Shiko paused for a moment to rest. She leaned against the wall, methodically removing the magazine from her gun and reloading the two bullets that she had used, then sliding the mag back into the gun and clicking it in.

She could no longer hear Kikyo at all, which meant that Kikyo was probably too far away to hear her either.

Shiko began to make her way slowly through the tunnels, trying to find her way back to the central cavern.

It was a bit tricky, because at every fork in the path she came to, she had to wait and have her soul fly ahead to make sure that neither path was a dead end before she could fly back and continue. It was time wasted, and she knew that she did only have two hours. What would happen if neither she nor Kikyo was dead within that time span? Would that creep Ichirou simply give them more time until one of them died or would he kill Rin and then the both of them? That was the reason for having Rin as a hostage, wasn't it? To make sure that Shiko played by his rules, and to make sure that she didn't follow the other end of the chain till she found Sesshomaru.

But then why was Kagome here? Surely Kagome wasn't necessary. If the goal was to make Shiko and Kikyo fight to the death, then why was Kagome just sitting there and not even participating in this twisted game. Shippo had been taken to basically make sure that Kagome wouldn't get involved, but why kidnap Kagome and bring her here in the first place if the whole point of her being here was for her to do nothing? Shiko frowned in annoyance. Why were psychopaths so hard to understand?

"_**I hope you all are enjoying the game**_," Ichirou's voice suddenly boomed throughout the cave.

Shiko flinched at the sudden noise. It was echoing everywhere, so he probably was making an announcement to all three of them.

"_**One hour is now up. Half your time is gone, so you two had better get killing! To make things move faster, I'm giving Kikyo an advantage. Ten of her soul stealers have now entered the maze! Better run faster Shiko!"**_

And then his voice was gone.

That wasn't good.

* * *

><p>With a flashy twirl of his white coat, Ichirou reappeared in the dark room. His trademark grin still plastered to his face, he walked over to where Naraku was sitting and watching through the pale mirror that belonged to his void incarnation.<p>

Naraku glanced up as Ichirou entered and a frown flashed across his face, "This has accomplished nothing. I was a fool to think that this insane plan of yours would work."

"No no no," Ichirou quickly denied, "I promised you a death from this, and whatever the outcome is you will get at least one death," he hung back, not really wanting to get much closer to Naraku, instead leaning casually against the wall of the room, "Besides, this is better than I thought. We're halfway through and the two have already fought each other, even if the exchange was brief. That's better than what I thought would happen when I set this up."

The view given by the mirror shifted to reveal Shiko. The girl was clearly getting to be a bit of a wreck, she was breathing heavily and hurrying down a pathway that Ichirou knew only circled back to the main chamber of the maze.

"That girl isn't going to kill Kikyo," Naraku commented, staring down at the image of Shiko with a mix of distaste and apprehension, "Although I am curious as to Kikyo's behavior. I would have thought she would be more reluctant to kill someone who had done her no harm."

Red eyes flashed as Ichirou replied, his voice elated, "Don't you see how brilliant this is? Kikyo believes herself to be the only one that can kill you, fix the jewel, all of that. She thinks herself singular and important, which is a bit self-absorbed and highly sacrificial, but it suits our purposes well. Kikyo will not live through this, and there is a very good chance that she will take Shiko down with her in an attempt to live."

The mirror flickered again to show Kagome, alone and huddled into a ball, "And Kagome?" Naraku asked, "She is a nuisance as well, though admittedly not as problematic as Kikyo."

Ichirou shrugged, "I promised you Kikyo dead. Kagome needs to be there for that. I'm not allowed to kill Kagome, but if you want to try after this is all done, be my guest. And for the record, I did _not _promise Shiko's death. It's very likely, but I don't want you to throw a hissy fit at me if she ends up walking out of this alive."

Naraku glared at Ichirou, annoyed by the insinuation that he would throw a 'hissy fit' when Naraku knew himself to be far more dignified, "It is intriguing that you have so many regulations about who you may kill and who you may not."

"Don't worry, I can kill _you_ whenever I want," Ichirou said casually, his tone laced subtly with poison, another reminder to Naraku about who was really in charge, "Kagome however, is more complicated. Her life is somehow closely tied in with this world's fate system. That's the same reason why I cannot speak freely to those who hold a shard of the Shikon-no-Tama. Fortunately, I can say whatever I want in Kagome's presence, although while I may influence others to take her life, I am not allowed to kill her myself. It is… _aggravating_."

"Can you kill the others?" Naraku asked, waving his hand over the mirror to display the image of Shiko again. "Can you kill InuYasha? Sesshomaru?"

Ichirou gave Naraku a scathing look, "Sesshomaru I can kill. InuYasha… it depends on how close the relationship between him and Kagome is. The girl's fate is tied to the Shikon jewel and to some extent, so is InuYasha's. I suppose it would be best for you two kill the both of them. I would hardly like to try only to get in trouble for it."

A faint chuckle came from Naraku, "It would be amusing to see who would care if you broke one of these supposed 'rules'."

"If you ever found out you would not find it amusing," Ichirou said sharply, the humor draining from his voice like he had been plunged into a bath of ice cubes, "Focus on your petty kills I let me focus on staying out of trouble with the law."

The mirror suddenly flashed up and the scene it displayed changed.

"_What?!_" Naraku snarled, his hands clenching around the edge of the mirror, "How is this possible? You said there was no way to trace the spell!"

Ichirou titled his head to look at the mirror. Displayed on the glass, with no hope of it being a misleading mistake, was Sesshomaru. Running right in the direction of the castle that they were currently in.

"The spell couldn't be tracked," Ichirou mused quietly, "That's simply not possible… But he is clearly coming here… Perhaps… No, it should be impossible for him to figure out that Shiko is being held in the basement. There isn't a way to track that human child, Rin, either. How?" This was worrisome. There could be no mistake in what the mirror was showing. Somehow, Sesshomaru had figured out were Shiko and Rin had been taken and was on his way right as they spoke. That should not be possible. Ichirou had placed warding spells around the cave beneath the castle, if Shiko's soul left to go and warn Sesshomaru the wards would go off and Ichirou would be alerted. She hadn't left.

"Then how is he on his way here?!" Naraku demanded, furious.

The mirror changed scene again.

This time it showed InuYasha, the half breed and two of his friends. Also on their way here. "InuYasha as well!?" In a burst of fury, Naraku threw the mirror at Ichirou and began to pace the room, "Look! You've made a mistake and it is going to cost _me_!"

Ichirou easily caught the mirror and examined the image of InuYasha. How was he on his way here as well? Did he have some way of tracking Kagome? Perhaps the two of them were so tied in with this world's fate system that they had found a way of tracking the other when separated? No, that was also silly.

Waving a hand over the surface of the mirror, the glass suddenly looked as though the image inside was rewinding somehow. It stopped, and resumed to show images at a normal pace, albeit, images that had occurred before the present moment in time.

Ichirou watched as the bottle of Shikon shard was lifted into the air and the single shard flew into the tree, marking the direction to head in.

_That was impossible_.

"No…" he muttered to himself, "Not even my thrice-damned sister could do that…" Neither of them could do anything at all to the Shikon jewel or its shards, as it was part of the fate system and therefore out of their control.

Whoever had done this could bypass the fate system regulations, and wanted one of the three safe. And Ichirou had the horrible feeling of familiarity creep over him.

"_No_," Ichirou stated. He couldn't believe this.

His hands began to shake ever so slightly, tiny tremors that went unnoticed by the furious Naraku. A dangerous sort of glint glazed Ichirou's red eyes.

"It was _her_," he muttered, "_She _sent InuYasha here."

Naraku stopped and turned to Ichirou, perhaps to inquire about who this person was, but Ichirou turned on the spot and vanished, letting the mirror fall to the ground.

* * *

><p>Shiko pressed her back against the cave wall, carefully regulating her breathing and trying to even slow down her heartbeat. Now that Kikyo had the advantage again, Shiko had to make as little noise as possible, do anything and everything to ensure that she would not be found. After all, Kikyo's soul stealers seemed to be masters at tracking, and they could fly silently. This was so unfair, how come Kikyo got to have her lackeys come in and help? She rolled her eyes, the scolding voice of her mother floating through her head with the often-repeated mantra 'life isn't fair'.<p>

Keeping her back to the wall, she left her body and flew ahead.

She easily zoomed through the tunnel and found to her disappointment that it simply curved around and rejoined the center cavern after a while. Damn.

Apart from the figure of Kagome however, the cavern was empty. Kikyo wasn't there, and neither were any of her soul stealers.

Perhaps they were searching for Shiko in one of the passageways?

Something nudged the edge of her mind.

Something sharp, like pain. Some sort of pain in her arm. For a moment she ignored it, having gotten so used to ignoring pain while out of her body, and the pain was so dulled that it didn't press into her mind like pain normally would. Then the realization hit her. She had been found.

Even though she was out of her body, she could still feel her blood run cold. She had to get back to her body.

It was faster with the chain now, she simply tugged on it with her mind and was sent flying backwards to her body, hurtling through the tunnel until _slam_.

She opened her eyes and hovered just outside of her body.

One of the soul stealers was gnawing on her arm. Deep red blood trickled from beneath its tiny sharp teeth and ran down Shiko's skin in small rivulets. With her other arm, she raised her gun, aimed at the soul stealer's head, and pulled the trigger.

With a loud crack, the bullet splattered the soul stealer's red blood over the cave wall. The rest of the soul stealer's body fell to the ground, and Shiko carefully picked the fangs out of her arm, pressing her hand to the small cuts.

"Shit…" she swore under her breath as she dropped the last of the tiny but razor sharp teeth onto the ground. Those things had a nasty bite.

Footsteps sounded throughout the cave.

Shiko pushed herself up and raised her gun, still keeping her soul just outside of her body to so that she could retain the best vision possible.

Kikyo rounded the corner, a couple of her sacred flames floating around her, casting shadow onto the cave walls that danced as the fire flickered. Behind her, the other nine soul stealers sort of hovered, like freaky bodyguards. Raising her bow, Kikyo looked at Shiko with what was actually a pitying expression, "I apologize for this," she said calmly, not at all in the tone of one who was about to kill, "I have nothing against you, but I must defeat Naraku."

"You're crazy. One of us dying isn't going to get anyone any closer to defeating Naraku," Shiko protested, still keeping her gun by her side. She wasn't going to make a move to shoot, not yet. "Can you even be sure that this Ichirou will live up to his word and let the survivor live?"

"No," Kikyo stated, "But if none of our weapons work against him, then this is the only chance we have."

A second later, Kikyo loosed the arrow.

Reacting on pure instinct and adrenaline, Shiko ducked, flattening herself to the ground before springing back up to a kneeling position. She fired a shot, hitting Kikyo in the leg.

Kikyo cried out, collapsing to one knee and clutching at her leg, which was not bleeding, more so crumbling like the dirt and graveyard soil it was made of. Her eyes narrowed and she glared at Shiko with a deep malice now. She reached towards Shiko, like she was trying to strangle her, but it must have been a signal. The nine soul stealers rushed towards Shiko in a swarm.

Shiko blasted the first two that got near her, but then leapt backwards and turned tail and ran.

"Get her!" Kikyo commanded, her voice echoing after Shiko.

The remaining soul stealers followed her, writhing chaotically as they flew down the tunnel after her. Shiko could see them come after her, and she ran faster than she should have, had she retained her normal limits of pain and endurance.

Bursting out of the tunnel and into the main cave, Shiko grabbed hold of the rock on her right and spun around, continuing at the same pace down the tunnel that ran parallel to the previous one.

The soul stealers floundered for a moment and then followed her, pouring into the tunnel like an infestation. Shiko turned on the spot, following the left fork in the tunnel. At the turn, she flung her arm out, took aim and fired a shot at the nearest soul stealer. The bullet caught it in the stomach and it smashed into the wall of the cave with a bloody splatter.

Shiko hastily caught sight of a loose boulder on the wall a few feet ahead of her.

When she reached it, she grabbed hold of it with both hands, her fingers digging painfully into the cold rock to the point of drawing blood, and flung it loose. The huge rock crashed into the floor, bringing down a thundering avalanche.

Arms flung up at the last second to protect her eyes from the sudden onslaught of rock and debris, Shiko flung herself backwards and rolled to the ground, narrowly avoiding the huge rock that rolled at breakneck speed past her. When the booms died down, Shiko removed her arms from her eyes and carefully stood up, coughing up a cloud of dust.

That single boulder had caused a chain reaction, the results of which now blocked off that whole section of tunnel.

Shiko grinned and turned around. She had bought herself some time.

The grin faded. She had been following a dead end tunnel. She had just trapped herself.

Nowhere to run. Even if she could shift some of the rocks, there would only be soul stealers and instant death by Kikyo on the other side of the passage. There wasn't a way forward and there wasn't a way back. Maybe she could just hide here for the rest of the time and hope that there was some sort of tie-breaking option. No, Kikyo was bound to get through the blockage in due time, and then Shiko would be a sitting duck.

"Now what am I supposed to do…?" she muttered to herself, feeling the pangs of fear and disappointment stab her in the heart.

"Hello again Shiko," Ichirou said as he silently appeared behind her.

Whirling to face him, Shiko demanded furiously, "What the hell?"

"I think it's time we had a little chat, don't you?" the mysterious psychopomp asked with a manic grin.


	26. Speak with the Devil

S-S: Ah, so sorry for long delay, I was on vacation and then school started and yeah. Enjoy!

I don't own InuYasha, but this chapter is mainly Shiko and Ichirou and I _do_ own them…

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><p>"A chat?" Shiko echoed, unsure if she had heard the man correctly.<p>

Unfazed, unblinking, unmoving, with his grin still decorating his face, Ichirou replied, "That's right. I've never had the time to speak with you properly you know. Before, Kikyo and Kagome were there to get in the way, and really, although you are a dull and boring human, I have rather been meaning to have a little talk with you. I won't pretend to be uninterested in you."

Shiko took a little step backwards, which, if anything, made Ichirou's grin only grow wider. Why the hell was this man- psychopomp- thing, interested in her? Even though Shiko loved to think herself important and special, she knew deep down that she was really rather ordinary, and, up until her accident, had lived an uninteresting life. Masa had too been interested in Shiko, although she had been more vague, and had called Shiko impossible. Prehaps Ichirou also wished to know how it was that Shiko travelled between the worlds? In that case, he was sure to be disappointed, she didn't know anything.

"Sorry," she said, her voice harsh, "But I'm afraid that I've got nothing to say to you. I already talked to Masa. I don't know how I came to be here. You're out of luck."

Ichirou waved it off and walked slowly towards Shiko, with much the impression of a predator stalking its prey, a game before the meal, "Oh, that's perfectly alright," he reassured her, "I already _know_ how you came to be in this world. My dear old sister knows as well, although I didn't think that she would have told you. Or perhaps," he mused to himself, "she only _guesses_ how you came to be here, and doesn't know for fact yet."

_He knew?!_ Shiko felt her heart beat race. What did he know, and if Masa knew, or suspected, why the hell hadn't the woman told her?! "Alright, then how did I get to be here?"

The grin faded from Ichirou's face in such a natural and yet sudden way that made Shiko question whether he had been smiling in the first place. He leaned forward and stared at her, "You really don't know," he stated with a dangerous calm.

"Of course I don't, you idiot," Shiko quickly retorted, shuddering from his gaze, "That's what I've been saying this whole time!"

He ignored her, and instead began to mutter, as a doctor would mutter when examining a patient ailing from an unknown illness, "How can you not know…? Was amnesia part of the deal perhaps? … Or would _she_ take away the memory on her own…? No, surely not… my love would never… far too personal…" he looked up, right into Shiko's eyes and waved his hand in front of her face.

Shiko almost smacked his hand out the air before she remembered that doing such a thing might get her hand ripped off by the maniac. He _was_ muttering to himself after all. "What in the _hell_ are you going on about? I don't have amnesia!"

Ichirou rolled his eyes at her, "Because of course you would _remember_ if you had amnesia. Think before you speak."

Biting her tongue, Shiko resigned herself to glare at him with hatred.

Ichirou took a ring off his finger, of the same hand that he had waved in front of Shiko's face just then. The ring was small, and perfectly circular. He tossed it lazily into the air, where it hovered in front of his palm, and then it started to grow.

When the ring ceased to enlarge, it was a mirror, round and smooth, with an elaborately etched golden frame that's sharp edges reminded Shiko of the sun's rays. It was a beautiful piece of craftsmanship, flawless and stunning, perfect in every way save one. The mirror held no reflection.

Ichirou let his hand pass across the surface of the mirror, and even though Shiko could see that he hadn't done anything more than move his hand, when the mirror began to show images, she could only determine that he had indeed done something. "I suppose I'm doing you a favor right now," Ichirou stated, turning away from Shiko to face the mirror, "You see, this mirror is very special. It shows only the truth. Even if you cannot remember what happened, such a thing will not matter. The truth, shown in its entirety."

Shiko almost replied, but all her thoughts fled her mind when she too looked at the mirror. She saw herself, stepping out into the middle of the street.

The mirror her turned around and took a step backwards.

The car sped into the frame of the mirror.

_Close my eyes_, Shiko thought, _look away!_ But she didn't, her eyes were held open by a perverse desire that came from some twisted corner of her mind, the desire to see what had happened to her.

The car collided with her body and then everything went dark.

"That was what you saw," Ichirou explained. He tugged on something, something that Shiko couldn't see and the blackness was lifted, like a curtain drawing back. "_This_ is what happened."

The mirror Shiko was smashed, her body flung backwards across the cement, thrown messily and un-elegantly like a tossed aside rag doll. Blood splattered the ground. Shiko's body hit a lamp-post and went still, though her chest still rose and fell in shaky, uncertain motions. She looked a wreck, her leg twisted around and her arms hanging from the wrong angles, part of her chest looked like it had been smashed in, and tiny bits of pale white bone protruded from the crimson mess that was the left side of her torso. It was a miracle her neck had not been snapped, a miracle that Shiko had not died.

Her father cried out, running desperately towards her fallen body. The car door opened and a shaken young man uneasily got out, his jaw lagging and unable to say anything.

And then it was as if a hand took hold of Shiko.

In a split second images were hurtled across the mirror, nothing more than bright flashes of color, but Shiko got the distinct impression of watching her soul being dragged.

Then the image settled, and Shiko watched as her body opened its eyes on this world.

Ichirou's hand twitched, and the mirror went blank again. Shiko breathed a sigh of relief.

"What…?" Ichirou muttered, "There was no deal?" he didn't seem to understand this, something the mirror had shown, or hadn't show, had ripped up his expectations into tiny shreds. "But how…?" he looked at Shiko again, his eyes narrow and piercing, "You _are_ alive, and yet… Why? That was her, that must have been, no one else could have, and yet you made no deal, you didn't barter, you didn't beg! I watched your whole life, you pathetic girl! No one would have made the deal for you, no one else would have made such a deal!"

Shiko didn't understand, she couldn't. It seemed as though he thought she had made some deal with someone, a deal that must have saved her. But she hadn't. The only person she had ever made a deal with was Masa, and even Masa didn't know how Shiko had been saved that day.

"Sorry," Shiko bit out, hating to apologize to the insane man, "But who is this 'she' that you keep talking about? I haven't made any deals, you know."

Ichriou frowned, "You don't know. You really don't know."

Irritated, Shiko snapped, "Of course I don't bloody know! If I did, I wouldn't be asking!"

He laughed. Loud, twisted laughs that made Shiko shudder. "I can't believe it!" he said at last, "My sister must have guessed, I know that you have met her. Oh, she didn't tell you! My damned sister didn't even tell you anything!"

"She didn't need to!" Shiko barked, annoyed by how he kept insinuating that Shiko was some sort of blind idiot. She _had _figured out the psychopomp bit all by herself after all. She hadn't needed Masa or this Ichirou to tell her what they were, she had figured it all out just from that one silly riddle of Masa's. "I'm no fool!"

Ichirou straightened up and looked at Shiko slightly differently, "Indeed?" he said, "Then I'm sure you can figure out who _she_ is," the grin slipped back onto his face, "It's easy. Find the one of us that is missing. We number three, not two."

There was a third psychopomp? One that, Shiko guessed, must be more powerful than Ichirou and Masa, maybe their boss of sorts. And it seemed as though both Ichirou and Masa thought that this third person had been the one to rescue Shiko and bring her to this world.

Ichirou held out his hand and the mirror shrunk down until it was a ring again and then Ichirou slipped it onto his finger. "I shall have to ask my sister…" he muttered to himself before asking Shiko, "So tell me, have you figured out the point of this game yet?"

"Point?" Shiko asked, mocking him, "You mean there was an actual point besides terrorizing the good guys for your sick sadistic purposes?"

"But of course!" Ichirou stated with a smirk, his hand over his heart in fake sincerity, "I _did _explain that this was an experiment after all."

"You know who also did twisted horrible things to living people and called them experiments to justify their crimes against humanity as the work of science?" Shiko snarled right back, "Fucking Nazi's."

He snorted in amusement, "Hilarious, dear Shiko. But no, there is in fact a point to this. You see, I've been trying to kill you for a good long time now."

Shiko's eyes went as wide as saucers. She shrieked, leapt backwards and pointed her gun at his head, "You've been trying to fucking kill me! What the fuck! You don't just _say_ things like that all casual!"

"Of course I've been trying to kill you," he said, and then pointed at her gun with a frown, "You can put that down now, I thought I already told you that your weapons won't work on me. Don't worry, you're relatively safe right now, I'm not actually going to kill you at the moment. You see, that person that brought you here, well, she doesn't do things lightly. If she brought you here, then you're sort of under her protection. Of course, I'm fighting against her, and so that makes you on her side and therefore my enemy. However, I'm trying to stay under the radar at the moment. I can't kill you myself, that would be breaking rules that would get me in trouble with her."

A deranged giggle escaped Shiko's mouth. This whole entire situation was simply preposterous and terrifying. "Ha! I'm safe from you!" she declared, "Bet that drives you up the wall!"

He shrugged casually, "Not really. There are far more frustrating things in the world. It is a bit of a problem though, and it has become rather more complicated as of late. You see, I want you dead but cannot do the dead myself. I have to use other pawns to get at you, to get at most all of my enemies. I'm using Naraku for the moment, he's rather useful when not obsessing terribly over the dead priestess."

"You're… _using_ Naraku?" Shiko gaped, "You're using the king of manipulation to do your will?"

"Oh yes," Ichirou stated calmly, "It's rather easy as well. All I had to tell him was that you were far more important an enemy than anyone else. That your 'future knowledge' would make you his chief adversary. After that of course, he's been after you as well and it has worked rather nicely. He tried his hand at diplomacy at first, good thinking on his part. Keep your enemies closer and all that, too bad it didn't work. That demon bird back at the castle, did you like it? I set it to you of course, my other efforts were not working and I was trying to speed up your demise."

Shiko pointed an incredulous finger at him, "_You_? _You_ sent that damn bird after me?"

He nodded quite cheerfully, "Of course it was me. Naraku may have extensive networks of power spread throughout the country, but I can go through worlds as I please, and traveling outside of the country was a simple matter. I found that rare demon in the America's actually."

"Wait wait wait," Shiko said, holding up her hand in a 'stop' gesture, "Back up," she weakly tried to piece her jumbled and scrambled and mashed thoughts together, "You said you've made _other_ attempts on my life?"

"Obviously. For quite some time now I've been using Kikyo to get to you," he stated.

Shiko gasped, "_Kikyo!_? But Kikyo doesn't work for you! She would never!" The mere thought of Kikyo working for an obviously dark and evil man like Ichirou was absurd, and besides, she had been just as shocked as the rest of them when he had first appeared to them. No one was _that_ good of an actress, not even Kikyo.

"She's been unknowingly working towards fulfilling my goal without even realizing it for quite some time now," Ichirou informed her, still cheerful, still upbeat, acting as if he was stating facts, not confessing to plots of murder, "As soon as you entered this world I was informed, and I assume that my sister was as well. You aren't supposed to be here, you aren't a designated dimension traveler like some are, and so when you appeared a sort of, _alarm_ went off, if you will. It alerted us to your presence and immediately I began to suspect. I looked over your past life, and I found nothing worthy of note. I assumed that my sister had brought you here. It would not be the first time she has become clingy over a mortal and proclaimed a friendship with them."

"B-But Masa didn't bring me here," Shiko denied, "I thought we already established that. Why would you try to kill me if your sister brought me here? Are you fighting her as well?"

"Yes," he continued, "My sister is indeed one of my most bitter enemies. Anyway, I knew that you were an enemy and you would have to be killed. I am no fool like my sister, I know far better than to underestimate the power that humans can have. I knew that your soul's connection with your body would be weak. And I knew that if I could permanently detach your soul from your body then the victory would be mine, regardless of by who's hand you were killed. So I sent you down the path to Kikyo, which you walked quite willingly."

What? But Shiko hadn't been following some sort of set out path! All the choices she had made, her decision to go to Mt Hakurei, her choice to follow Sesshomaru, all of those choices had been her own! "What?" she asked incredulously, "But I haven't been following some path at all! I've made my own decisions, you weren't even there for any of them, you only showed up long after Masa did, and even she got there after I already knew what I was going to do."

He chuckled, and the sound made Shiko shiver again, out of fear, "You humans truly are blind, don't you know it? Really, you were _so_ predictable! Your first day here, remember? Come now, a path that conveniently led right in the direction of Mt Hakurei? What did you say, 'Follow the yellow brick road'? _I_ put that stone there, I led you right towards that mountain."

"You- you're lying…" Shiko muttered. He had to be. She had made her own decision, she had to have. The stone had been an omen from the universe, not from him.

"That path led you right towards Kikyo," Ichirou declared, "I was so close, your soul was pulled right out of your body, but not for long enough. It wasn't enough, you weren't close enough and Kikyo was injured far too soon. It failed, but my sister had already warned you. Knowing that she must have been under extreme duress to contact you, I knew that she had figured out what I was doing and warned you, either against me, or against any contact with Kikyo, although I would place my money of the later. It didn't work of course, despite her warning, you ended up running into Kikyo anyways. But then I knew that I had to be more careful and swifter.

"I tried again," he continued, beginning to pace around the confines of the cave, a wild and manic gleam in his eyes as he spoke, "I didn't interfere again while you were under the guide of Sesshomaru. Demons are far harder, I wasn't going to risk implanting suggestions into his mind, I knew that it was more likely that he would notice the foreign thought, and I knew that delicacy would be needed. I would have to stick with humans for the next round, I knew that. So I sent that silly girl and that bandit your way and had you walk right into that human village. I sent whispers to the high priestess that lived there, telling of a powerful priestess, a witch that lived by a waterfall. I had found Kikyo again, and I knew that you were looking for Masa and so I easily took advantage of that."

"You made the priestess Hikaru-sama tell me to find Kikyo?" Shiko felt like a rock that has been grasping onto the riverbank for years, and has just been torn from safety and swept down into the sea.

Ichirou nodded, zealously continuing his tale, "I knew that you would go after her, and it was the perfect set up. You would get close to Kikoy's body and then her soul stealers would rip your soul from your body, a soul that you were already prodding at and weakening, doing a good deal of my job for me. But then my plans were ruined again! My damned sister slipped the bonds on that bandit, drove him to summon his comrades and attack the village in retaliation. And you were sent away from Kikyo again."

"Masa…?" Shiko gasped, "Masa sent those bandits after me?" She tried to swallow but found her throat dry. Imaginary hands clawed at her kimono and she hugged her arms tightly around herself to fend off the past attacks. She had thought Masa was on her side, even if she disliked the woman. But Masa had sent those foul men after her?

"Yes, rather well played, don't you think?" Ichirou said elatedly, "What a show that was, very well done. She didn't intend to kill you of course, if she had wanted you dead she would simply have left you to run after Kikyo. No, she just wanted to set you off course, and knew that those bandits would rough you up a bit. She must have been very confident about your fighting abilities to risk that gamble. I was almost worried when you stumbled off into that dark forest, I knew that you were headed in the wrong direction entirely. But then I was in luck. You had headed straight towards an expedition from that castle, the same castle where Naraku had made a sort of base."

The pieces slotted into place in Shiko's mind and she knew what he was going to tell her next, "You had Kohaku find me and take me back to the castle."

Ichirou smirked condescendingly at her, "Of course I did. What, you thought that to be a coincidence?"

Shiko kept silent. She wasn't sure if she knew what was coincidence and what was freakish planning in her life anymore.

It seemed as though silence had been what Ichirou had expected, for he continued on his tirade with barely a moment's hesitation, "It wasn't too hard then, you were under Naraku's watch, and by extension, mine. It gave me a moment to plan. When those bird demons attacked the castle, it gave me the perfect opportunity. Naraku wasn't willing to act any earlier, that precious infant thing was there and he wanted it safe. I was hardly going to antagonize the man over this, I know that he will be useful in the future. So I sent that bird demon after you during the attack. It almost killed you, but when you lived I was not too disappointed. My chance was coming soon."

"The Borderland…" Shiko muttered.

"Yes, exactly," he agreed, "I knew that you would be drawn to that place and once you entered you would be dead the moment you returned. And yet… for some reason you did not die. I thought perhaps it was a fluke. That maybe you had stayed outside, maybe you had not entered. So I resolved to try again, and this time I wouldn't leave any error for mistakes. I revealed myself to you and brought the three of you here. I knew that I would let the soul stealers into this maze and I intended for Kikyo to kill you when you were weakened. But no… Your soul didn't fall under the creature's control, though it did leave your body. And you had full control of it as well. I wondered why."

He stopped pacing and stared right into Shiko's misty grey eyes, "Tell me Shiko. How is it that an ordinary human girl with little to no talent manages to avoid having her soul dragged out of her body when I know for a fact that under the circumstances you should be soulless and dead right now?"

A faint shimmer of light entered the dark stream of twisted thoughts storming through Shiko's mind.

_He didn't know_.

He didn't know about the chain connecting her soul to this body and this body to this world. He knew nothing about her death and encounter with Masa. He didn't know, and that gave Shiko a faint glimmer of hope.

"I'm sorry," she said, a faint and wary smirk playing on her lips, "But I wouldn't know anything about that."

"Fine," he said, still calm, acting as though she had not even spoken, "You can avoid telling me for now. There is however, one more thing that I would like to test."

Shiko's brief respite from worry ended and her fear came flooding back to her, "What? What are you going to do now?" There wasn't anything _worse_ that he could possibly do to her, was there? She dared not think of anything more horrible than manipulating the past month of her life.

He flipped the ring off his finger and enlarged it to its proper size, leaving the mirror hovering in front of them.

"There," he said merrily, "It'll be best if you see what I'm going to do. Let's see… it's been what… a month and a few days?" he gave Shiko a grin, "You did not know this, but once a body has been vacated and in stasis for one full month, it is no longer judged by the same standards that apply to others."

"What the hell does that mean?" Shiko demanded, her voice cracking at the end of her sentence.

He simply flashed that demented grin at her again, "You'll see."

With a flash of his white coat, he turned on the spot and vanished.

The mirror flickered to life, and began to show images on the surface, like a real time television. It depicted a white clean room, tiled floors, white-washed walls, and people in white coats walking past an open door, occasionally exchanging brief words that Shiko could hear through the mirror. Ichirou appeared, silently, and without preamble in the middle of the corridor. The doctors, for this must be a hospital of sorts, walked right past him. It occurred to Shiko that they could not see him.

Ichirou turned and waved at Shiko mischievously before striding right through the open door.

_Beep…. Beep….._

Her stomach fell and twisted into some tight knot of fear. She recognized this place. She knew that room, she knew those machines, she knew that bed, and she knew oh-so-well the people in the room. She had been here before, once, when she had almost died at the hands of Kikyo's soul stealers.

Shiko saw herself lying on the hospital bed.

Tubes of all sorts vanished into her veins, and wound into sacks of clear liquid that dripped lazily into the tubes. Machines hummed steadily near the single white bed, and the beeping was the only sound in the room. Two people sat inside. Her father was propped up against the wall, his eyes shut and his breathing heavy. Her mother sat in a chair, dozing off as well. Even now, her parents had not left her side.

Ichirou walked right past her parents and looked leeringly over Shiko's immobile body.

And suddenly, she knew what he was going to do.

"_**NO**_!" she screamed, slamming her fist against the glass, "_NO! YOU CAN'T!"_

_Beep…. Beep…._

_Slam!_ She pounded at the glass again, whamming against it as she saw Ichirou go towards the machines that sat beside the best. "_You cant! Don't you DARE!_" she shrieked, like fury and sadness combined into a storm, "Don't you even _DARE!_"

That was her _home_! She had to get back there, she had to get back to her home, that was what had been driving her, keeping her tethered to sanity and stability in this crazy world, that was what kept her fighting. He couldn't! He simply couldn't, the thought was unthinkable.

Ichirou placed his hand on the machines and ran his fingers over the button, almost lazily.

Shiko's eyes went wide and tears flowed down her face. He couldn't. He simply couldn't.

_Beep…. Beep…._

He was going to kill her.

Ichirou calmly pressed the buttons on the machine, and slowly, things began to shut off, the tiny flashing electronic lights began to blink out of existence, one by one.

"_No…_" she sobbed, still pressing against the glass of the mirror, "Oh god, _no_…"

_Beeeeeep….._

_Beeeeeeeeeeeeepppp…_

_Bee-_

She choked on her scream.

_No no no no no..._ The scream was clawing its way up her throat, tearing at her mind. This couldn't be happening, it couldn't be real, this had to be some sort of dream, an elaborate construction of her subconscious mind. She couldn't have just… _died_. The scream slashed away at her.

"Hmmm…" that hated voice said from behind her, "No, there's no difference. Interesting. I was so sure that breaking the link to the original body would ruin whatever was keeping your soul here, but it seems as though I was wr-"

The scream ripped out of her throat and she lashed out at him, intending to bring his death about by her own hands, to tear him to pieces with her bare fingers, to pluck out his eyes with her nails and claw at his skin till it was in tatters.

"_I'LL KILL YOU!"_ she screamed, racking her nails across his face, slamming her other hand into his gut as she pounced on him like a vicious animal, "I'll kill you for this! I'll tear you to shreds! You killed me you sick son-of-a-bitch!"

With shocking strength and ease, Ichirou threw her across the room.

She slammed painfully into the jagged stone wall, her head almost barely missing a sharp rock that would have impaled her skull. Blood, fresh and red trickled town her newly cut open thigh. Her head spun. But that didn't matter, she pushed herself off the wall.

This wasn't like before, her soul was still in her body, it hadn't even occurred to her to access 'Super-Shiko mode', she was just so angry, furious, enraged. Her eyes were locked onto Ichirou like a sniper on their target and all that mattered at the moment was making him pay. The pain ripped through her body as she moved and it occurred to her that she might have bruised her ribs. It didn't matter. The pain drove her towards him, it was her reward, and she would welcome it. She was about to throw herself right back at Ichirou, to do anything that would cause him pain, to return the favor and then some.

He snapped his fingers.

Shiko tried to lunge at him. But she couldn't, she couldn't move, not even an inch forward. Damn him! Damn that bastard to the deepest circles of hell!

"Temper temper Shiko!" Ichirou said breathlessly, elatedly, "You have quite the fire in you! I like that! It certainly makes for an entertaining enemy!" he reached out and snagged the mirror out of the air, pulling the now small ring back into the palm of his hand, "Now, let's stop playing this game shall we? I want to know why you haven't lost your soul yet. Clearly, killing your other body did nothing, and I am rather running out of time."

He calmly walked over to Shiko and grabbed her by the arm. Then, he turned.

It felt like being dragged through space and pressed too thin all at once. When she reappeared, she found herself dizzy, immobile, and facing a terrified looking Kagome.

Ichirou dropped Shiko, who fell boneless to the ground. "You may, if you wish, talk now," he said to Kagome, who leapt to her feet and rushed over to Shiko, trying to help the other girl stand.

With a snap of his fingers, Kikyo appeared, breathless, and collapsed on the ground from where Shiko had shot her in the leg. "What-?" she questioned, looking around at where she now was.

"The game is over," Ichirou informed then, and then, with a clap of his hands, lifted the darkness from the cave. All three of the woman could look around and see their rocky surroundings with perfect clarity. "There is no winner. Shiko did not manage to kill Kikyo. And Kikyo did not manage to kill Shiko. I must admit, I am a bit disappointed, I had hoped that Shiko would be killed by Kikyo before the end."

"Who has won?" Kikyo demanded, "Do we continue to play?"

He grinned at her like one would at a foolish child, "No," he replied simply, "I did promise my dear sponsor one death from this. Oh, by the way, he is watching this right now. Naraku does have that handy mirror of his void incarnation. Say hi to Naraku Kikyo," he chastised and the now seething woman, "I don't particularly care about you, but Naraku does rather want you dead. Sorry, no hard feelings, I trust. This is only business."

"You are going to kill me?" Kikyo inquired coldly, "You cannot, I played this game of yours."

"Sorry," he said with a grin, "But you were always going to die and the end of this, regardless. I was hoping for Shiko's death to be the result of this game, but ah! Disappointment! Such is the way of things."

In a split second, Kikyo loosed an arrow headed towards Ichriou's heart, an arrow that blazed a path of holy light.

Ichirou plucked it out of the air before it reached him.

It fizzled and sputtered in his hand and then crumbled into ash. He looked at Kikyo with disappointment, "Pity, I expected better things from you. I already said that none of your weapons or powers could harm me. Did you honestly think that to be a mere boast?"

Before Kikyo could fight him again, he held up his hand. Kikyo was pulled, slowly, into the air, hanging there as if nothing more than his puppet, forcefully silent and struggling in the air, awaiting her execution. She fell still and glared at Ichirou silently, cursing him a thousand times with naught but her eyes.

"That's better," Ichirou said calmly, walking towards Kikyo, "Now I know that my friend Shiko is _dying_ to speak," he grinned at this, and then added to Shiko, "Oh and don't worry, that spell will wear off on its own in a few minutes. Anyway, I know what she would be asking. 'How can you kill Kikyo? You can't kill me!' So I'll tell her, and the rest of you. Education for all. The only people I can't really kill are those tied in with this world's fate system and those who are under protection. However, _you_, dear Kikyo, are dead. Your soul has technically moved on. Which means that your soul is _mine_." He pointed to Kagome, "And now Kagome, your purpose here shall be explained. I need you to do _this_."

With that, he reached his hand into Kikyo's chest and pulled something out.

A bright light sat in his hand, a bright soul. He walked over to Kagome and placed it in her chest.

She gasped as the light entered her body, too overwhelmed to fight what was happening. It probably felt _right_ as well. It was her soul after all. Kagome collapsed onto her knees as the light faded.

Shiko felt her neck un-freeze and looked at Kikyo. The woman was still hanging in midair. Her eyes were blank. Her chest no longer rose and fell. "Kikyo-" Shiko rasped out, her lungs still partially under the spell, "Kikyo… she's… she's dead. Kagome… she's dead."

Kagome looked first to Shiko and then up at Kikyo, "Oh no!" she gasped, and Shiko could see that it wasn't an act. As much as Kagome must hate Kikyo, and god knows that Kagome had plenty of reasons to, it still didn't mean that she wasn't honestly sad that Kikyo was dead. That was just how Kagome was. Too much heart in her.

Kagome threw her arms around Shiko and began to sob into the older girl's shoulder. Shiko stiffly reached out an arm to wrap around Kagome. God knows the girl needed the comfort.

_**BRRRRIIIIIINNNN-**_

Suddenly, loud and blaring, an alarm went off in the cave.


	27. Break In, Break Out

S-S: I'm so sorry for the long delay! There was school and stuff and… anyways, I promise that I will try and update as soon as possible. I'm also sorry if the writing sucks, I was writing so much of this chapter on a bad bad writer's block.

I don't own InuYasha.

* * *

><p>Kagura absent mindedly flicked her fan open and leaned back against the wall. This was getting to be incredibly tedious.<p>

She was used to traveling around almost every week, because her 'master' Naraku had this annoying habit of continuously changing where his castle was located. Just today though, they had been forced to move to a new location that Kagura had never seen before. The castle was located on top of a mountain, underneath which was a huge maze-like cave. Naraku had not explained why all this was necessary, but Kagura was used to that, and she was clever, and she was more than good at figuring things out on her own.

This had something to do with that other man, that demon who had no aura. What was his name? Ichirou, that was it.

It seemed almost as though Naraku was working for this other demon now, which was odd, as Kagura knew that Naraku was independent and manipulative to the very last drop of his blood. It was surreal that he would be working for someone else, and yet, that was the way it was. Most curious.

She had overheard a discussion earlier and pieced together the bits that she had heard. Ichirou wanted someone dead, and Naraku wanted Kikyo dead. No surprises there, but it seemed as though Ichirou had some master plan to get them all in one fell swoop. Then that Ichirou had gone out and brought back that human girl Rin and that fox brat Shippo who travelled with InuYasha! Of course, the person Ichirou wanted dead must be that human, Shiko. Rin was the hostage. It seemed as though Naraku had mostly given up on having Shiko join his side, not that Kagura could blame him. That human girl seemed dead set on fighting him.

They talked of teleportation, and the maze beneath the castle. Again, obvious. Bring their targets to the huge cave to detain them. But why bring Shippo as well? Kagura had found that rather odd and had made sure to overhear the next bit as best as she could. Kagome was underneath the castle as well. Ichirou explained that when he killed Kikyo, Kagome had to be there, for Kikyo's soul still belonged to Kagome and the only reason he could take Kikyo's soul would be if he was giving it to Kagome. It seemed rather like a tedious process to Kagura, but really, she had no idea who or what this Ichirou was.

One thing she could know for sure though, if Naraku was working for Ichirou, not only could Kagura not trust that mysterious man, but she could not fight him either. Ichirou must be far more powerful than Naraku.

She let out an angry huff of air that she tried to disguise as a sigh.

With this Ichirou now running the scene, Kagura stood even less of a chance of escaping and gaining her freedom. Naraku had no intentions of letting her go, and certainly not alive, she had no delusions about that. However, her only tiny shimmer of hope was the fact that she didn't know if Ichirou cared what she did. The few times she had encountered him, he hadn't seemed to care about anything at all, and held this carefree and simultaneously terrifying grin on his face that made Kagura wonder if he really didn't care or if he did indeed but had learned to show no emotions.

It seemed as though Kagura's only chance would be finding the strange Infant, and killing it, or finding someone else to do the deed and set her free. Then Naraku would be dead and Kagura would be a slave no longer.

God, it sounded so perfect in her mind.

Lazily fanning her face, she pushed herself off the sturdy wall and began to pace up and down the hallway once more.

One of the doors slid open.

She looked up from her thoughtful pacing, "Kohaku?" she asked, wondering what the boy was doing out of the two brat's jail cell, "Aren't you supposed to be on guard duty? The brats…" she trailed off when she noticed the look on the kid's face.

He was leaning with his back to the door, breathing heavily, as if he had just been running. And his eyes were wide. He was scared. No, worried? Something had upset him. He didn't even look up at Kagura when she spoke, not even the slightest glance in her direction. The wooden door frame rattled, his shaking hands still tightly gripping the handle, so tight that his knuckles where white.

"Hey… kid. Are you alright?" Kagura asked hesitantly. She wasn't really good at the whole comforting people thing, and she spent an uncomfortable moment wondering if she should pat him on the shoulder or something, or just leave him alone.

Kohaku jerked his head up and looked right at Kagura. Slowly, he shook his head and turned away, letting go of the door handle, "I'm fine," he said quietly.

Kagura gave his back a skeptical look, "You don't look fine," she retorted, "If you're injured you should tell me. Did those brats pull some stunt on you?"

He shook his head slowly and continued down the hall, slowly deliberately putting one foot in front of the other like he his head was muddled after drinking too much sake, only Kagura knew that the boy would never have touched the wine. Before he turned the corner and vanished from Kagura's sight, he said, in a voice so quiet that Kagura wasn't quite sure she had heard it, "Shippo-san… the fox… he said that my sister was looking for me."

The hand that had been casually playing with her fan suddenly halted and flicked the fan shut with a dead and hushed _thunk_. "So that's it… huh?" Kagura murmured to herself.

"My mind…" Kohaku began again, "I can think clear than before now… less… muddled. I had- I have a sister… I had… I had family… a father… cousins… uncles… aunts… I killed them. I know that," his words were sharp, a blow to himself, as though the depths of his mind was forcing him to take responsibility for the acts of atrocity that he had committed, "But still… my sister is looking for me… even though I tried to kill _her_ too…"

Kagura hurriedly glanced down the hall and then tried to peer through the walls and doors. She couldn't sense anyone around, but that was no guarantee that they weren't being watched. Kanna was around here somewhere, and there was no way that Kagura could ever sense or smell her older sister, and that meant that Kanna's spying mirror was here as well. Hakudoshi was not here, Kagura knew that, and she counted her blessings for his absence. She hoped that whatever was happening down in the cave below them was so interesting that Naraku wouldn't be bothered to look into the mirror to see what she or Kohaku was up to.

"If my… rather bad memory is right…" Kohaku added, "you were… against Naraku?"

Kagura gave a quick nod, "Don't talk. We might be watched. And it wouldn't do to let those two brats in there hear our little conversation," She sighed and leaned back against the wall tiredly. "I can't actually act at the moment, and neither can you really. Naraku holds my heart, and you have that jewel shard in your back."

Kohaku turned his head to look at Kagura, "But then… what are we going to do? I want to take down Naraku, and I won't be a burden to my sister."

"What an idiot you are," Kagura bit out. He looked startled, but a sudden pang of annoyance had caught the wind witch's thoughts and she wasn't going to shut up until she had said her piece, regardless of the boy's feelings, "You really think that just because you hurt your sister means that you're a burden to her? She's still looking for her, and if I know anything about the type that hangs around with InuYasha, she isn't ever going to _stop_ looking for you. You're being more of a burden by avoiding her!"

Kohaku bit his lip and glared at her, "My sister is in danger because of me! I can't let her risk her life for me!"

"And if you keep distancing yourself from her, you think that she'll stop fighting Naraku? Even if you return to her and admit to the fact that you can remember everything that you did, she isn't going to stop fighting Naraku! Your sister, InuYasha, that monk, all of them- they aren't fighting for you! They're fighting to kill Naraku and won't stop until he's dead at their feet! As for me, I hate working with others, but my whole plan to get out of this with my freedom is relying on others to take care of Naraku. I'm willing to get past the fact that I hate the lot of them, because we have the same damn goal. You need to get over what you think and accept the fact that they are the only allies you've got and you need their help if you want any chance of killing Naraku. Admit that all you're doing right now is throwing a tantrum because you don't want to own up to what you've done!"

Tears began to pour from Kohaku's eyes, "I don't understand how she can look for me after I tried to kill her! I can't go back till I know that it won't happen again!"

"She doesn't care about that!" Kagura snapped, "Everyone but_ you_ knows that you only killed because you were possessed by Naraku! You are ridiculously lucky, you have a sister who is willing to accept you after an accident that was _not your fault_ and more than willing to kill your enemy. You and that band of InuYasha's share a common goal, and damn it, I would give a hell of a lot to have them on my side, so there is no good reason why you aren't running back to your sister."

"It has to have been my fault though…" Kohaku said, his shoulders shaking, "I did it. I killed them. Even if Naraku was pulling the strings, it was my hand that cut them down."

Kagura walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder, not feeling the awkwardness behind the act anymore, "We've all done things that we didn't want to because Naraku made us. You need to accept the past, move on, and know that you are not at fault. That's the only way you are ever going to move on. If you are serious, and you really want to take Naraku down then do the smart thing by allying yourself with your sister and her friends because there is no way that you will be able to fight and win against Naraku on your own."

"And what are you going to do?" he asked in a hushed voice, "If… if I go back…"

She shrugged and let her hand fall back to her side, "Dunno. Keep doing what I'm doing. There's only one way that you can get to Naraku, and I think that I might have found it. If I can get a way out, a way to get close to the Infant, then I can kill it and I can be free."

Kohaku frowned in confusion, "Infant?"

"The same white child that we were protecting at the castle. I think that it's Naraku's heart, the part that got separated from his body in Mount Hakurei. If we can get the Infant and kill it, then Naraku dies. And I'll have my freedom, and you won't be under his thumb anymore," she explained, a small smile coming to her lips at the thought of driving her fan through the neck of the Infant.

"I… I need to think…" Kohaku said unsteadily, walking out of the hall.

Kagura turned around and headed back to the room where the brats were, slipping her fan inside her obi, "Don't think too long. I have a feeling that our chance might be sooner than we expected."

_**BRRRRIIIIIINNNN-**_

Suddenly, without warning, a loud alarm sounded throughout the building.

* * *

><p>Sesshomaru examined the building.<p>

It resembled one of Naraku's castles down to the last detail, so it was another one of those copies that disappeared as soon as Naraku left. But this one was covered by a shield, and not one of the usual ones that Naraku used. Something different. Sesshomaru could actually see the castle, unlike normal, where any visual was hidden. There was still no scent of Naraku and no trace of any presence, as though the castle was a dark spot upon the world where nothing existed. A thin shimmer hovered around the castle in a dome, tangible proof of the spell work that concealed the place. Whatever this was, it certainly was not Naraku's work. Perhaps it was done by the same person that had taken Rin and Shiko, this strange new ally of Naraku, the other psychopomp.

It was powerful enough to conceal the whole palace, and if Sesshomaru had to guess, he would say that this shield was designed to be selective, keeping out others, but letting Shiko, who had been teleported to the site, in. He hated to admit it, but that was a rather difficult condition to work with. This shield also seemed to have one clear weakness. It appeared to have a point of concentration below ground instead of simply around the building itself, which left a weak point above the castle. Interesting.

_Find Shiko_.

At his silent command, the thin, translucent chain appeared around his finger and wound off into space, meandering steadily below ground, to the same place where the barrier was concentrated.

Damn. Rin was probably there as well. It would be near impossible to break the barrier where it was strongest. Perhaps he could shatter the thing from the top, its weakest point, and then fight his way down.

The wind shifted and Sesshomaru wrinkled his nose. That annoying ass InuYasha was here too, with his little group.

Sure enough, within seconds InuYasha was headed towards him and Sesshomaru heard the loud and ear-grating yell of, "Hey you! What the hell are you doing here, you asshole?!"

Both the monk and the woman demon slayer grabbed InuYasha roughly by his arms, stopping the hanyou from charging straight at Sesshomaru.

The monk hissed at him, "Don't you dare start a fight InuYasha! We need to get Kagome-san and Shippo-chan out of here, you can bicker with your brother later!"

So that human miko and the fox child had been taken as well? What was going on here? "So you lost your miko and your fox, InuYasha? Do you even know who took them?" Sesshomaru would bet that InuYasha hadn't figured out that it was someone other than Naraku who had abducted his half-brother's accomplices. Of course, Naraku was certainly working with the unknown psychopomp, that much was obvious from the castle that they were facing.

InuYasha rolled his eyes, "Naraku. Duh."

Sesshomaru smirked at his half-brother's stupid retort, "Partly. He has a new ally, however. Someone that I doubt you have ever met. Which raises the question, why were the miko and the fox-child taken? Have you been making new enemies brother?"

"What?!" InuYasha's jaw dropped, "There's someone else!? But-but I thought-" he shook his head and demanded, "Well who the fuck is the other person then?"

When it became clear that Sesshomaru had no intentions of answering, the demon slayer frowned and asked, "Sesshomaru-san, the girl from before, Shiko… where is she? She isn't with you, but she didn't seem like a person to pass up on a chance to fight Naraku."

"Ah," Sesshomaru said, his voice sharp, "You are correct. However, this psychopomp that has allied himself with Naraku has an odd obsession with that human. It was he who organized this whole charade."

"Wait, wait, wait," InuYasha held up a hand, looking confused, "Kagome's friend, Shiko… was taken as well? What the hell do these people want? And why the hell are you here to help Shiko? I thought you hated humans?!"

It was a while before Sesshomaru said anything. Why should he tell InuYasha about Rin's disappearance? It wasn't any of the hanyou's business and Sesshomaru was, on principle, not a man to talk about things that were his own business, and especially not to InuYasha. But on the other hand, if Sesshomaru told InuYasha about the barrier, and its weak point, his foolish brother would be sure to attack the barrier right away and go in sword swinging. That would certainly be a very useful distraction. "My ward was also taken by Naraku," Sesshomaru said calmly, after a moment's further thought.

Sango gasped, "Rin-chan?"

"What the hell does Naraku want with Rin and Shiko?" InuYasha asked, frowning.

Sesshomaru gave InuYasha a cold look, "I can find that out after I kill him."

InuYasha shrugged, "Sounds like a good enough plan for me. I want payback on Naraku and this other psycho-something son of a bitch. How the fuck do we get in?"

Admittedly, Sesshomaru was a bit taken aback by how easily InuYasha had just asked him for assistance. His younger brother admitting a lack of knowledge and taking the foot out of his mouth was a feat in and of itself, but asking _Sesshomaru_ for help was something else entirely. That Kagome-miko must have the hanyou wrapped tightly around her little finger indeed. "Can't your pathetic eyes tell that this barrier is different from Naraku's?" he sneered, "There is a weak point at the top of the building."

A snarky grin made its way onto InuYasha's face. "Awesome!" he turned to the monk and the demon slayer, withdrawing the Tetsusaiga, "Miroku, Sango; you guys find Kagome and Shippo and get out, I'm going to kill Naraku!"

"You can count on us, InuYasha," Miroku replied with a nod.

Resting the Tetsusaiga on his shoulder as though the thing were no more than a blunt axe, InuYasha jumped onto the branch of the nearest tree and quickly climbed to the top.

With a yell, he ran along the thick branch of the tree and launched himself off the edge.

Mid-air, the Tetsusaiga's blade changed to a shimmering diamond that InuYasha slammed down on the top of the shield with explosive force.

There was a burst of light, sharp and bright, as the shield blasted into shards of useless energy.

_**BRRRRIIIIIINNNN-**_

The second the shield went down an earsplitting alarm rang throughout the area. _Damn_, Sesshomaru thought as he ran towards the undefended castle, _That psychopomp really was prepared._

With a well-placed hit, the large castle doors crumpled to Sesshomaru's fist, letting the demon enter the castle with ease. Behind him, InuYasha landed on the ground and rushed in with his two friends hastily following.

* * *

><p>Kagura rushed down the hallway, her bare feet skidding and sliding on the tatami mats as she turned corners. What the hell was the sound? She could only guess at an alarm of sorts, but this had ever happened before. In the many other castles of Naraku's that she had been stationed in, she only found out if there were intruders when Naraku or Kanna told her. She had to admit, an alarm was certainly an effective system.<p>

There was a loud smash of something wooden getting destroyed and Kagura threw open the nearest door to get a look at what on earth was happening.

One of the smaller houses on the edge of the castle campus had been destroyed from the inside as a large horde of demons emerged from within, writhing and roaring with destructive force. They attacked someone, someone white who easily repelled the demons.

Behind this white figure, another demon hut smashed open and streamed the living contents towards a smaller group in the gateway.

Kagura's eyes widened. _Sesshomaru_.

A little mental tally of who her boss had kept in the basement explained the commotion coming from the castle doors. InuYasha, the demon slayer, and the monk. They must have come to rescue those two miko and the fox child.

On automatic, Kagura reached for the folded fan she had tucked in her obi.

She paused.

Her red eyes scanned the throng of demons for the buzzing yellow of Naraku's poisonous insects. Nothing. Sure enough, within moments, the monk unleashed the wind tunnel curse in his hand and sucked in a huge mess of throw-away demons.

And if the insects weren't here… and Kagura _knew _that there was no way her boss or that Ichirou were watching small fry like her when this delicious commotion was happening right outside… That meant that she wasn't being watched. They weren't paying her any attention. Her words with Kohaku earlier flowed from the back of her mind to the forefront.

This was her chance.

She closed the door and leaned against it, her fan clutched to her chest. If she had a heart it would be pounding.

Whatever move she made next would have to be very carefully planned. If she rushed in and joined the fight on the other side, Naraku would crush her heart in an instant. The same result would occur if she grabbed the two hostage kids and delivered them to safety. Also, none of them trusted her, and she couldn't blame them. If she switched sides suddenly, they would be suspicious of her right up until she died.

No, whatever she did, the benefits would have to be instantaneous. Make her move, get freed by Naraku. There had to be a minimal time gap and she would have to find a way to have Naraku present her heart and then steal it. And he only ever showed Kagura her heart when he was about to torture her with it. She would have to betray Naraku _right in front of him_ to get her heart back. A shudder ran down her spine at the thought.

But she still needed an accomplice, someone to steal her heart for her.

While she had placed her faith in Sesshomaru and InuYasha to destroy Naraku, she had enough common sense to know that there was no way either of them would trust her without betraying Naraku beforehand. She needed someone who already believed that she was on their side.

Luckily enough, that someone was trapped in the basement right now.

Kagura walked deeper into the palace compound, taking calmer but still hurried steps. She knew what she had to do. She was going to get her freedom.

* * *

><p>"Damn," Ichirou said calmly, "It appears as though our time has been cut short," he glanced down at the sobbing Kagome and Shiko, "Don't worry, I'll be back for you later. I could honestly care less what happens to you, Kagome, but Shiko I have placed some investment in."<p>

He grinned at the two of them and, sparing Kikyo's corpse no more than a passing glance, turned on the spot and vanished.

"… damn it…." Shiko muttered, her muscles slowly overcoming the paralysis spell, "Damn it… all to… hell…"

"I'm so sorry Shiko-san, I'm so sorry," Kagome sobbed, leaning away from Shiko and rubbing her eyes with the edges of her sleeves, "I was only here because… because he needed to kill Kikyo. He didn't have to take Shippo too! He didn't have to do any of this! I'm so sorry!"

Shiko let her hands clench and unclench as she got a feel for using her body again, "Don't… apologize to me. You don't need to be sorry for anything," Her hot boiling anger had cooled while she had been petrified, and now an ember of pure lava rested in her heart. She was going to kill that man when she next saw him. She was going to rip out his heart and shoot him through the head until he stopped moving.

"I'm going to kill him," she whispered to herself, a quiet promise.

Kagome looked down at her hands, pointedly refusing to look anywhere near where Kikyo lay dead, "How… how do we get out of here?"

"No idea," Shiko said, looking up at the ceiling, which was lower than she had originally thought it would be, "I got in by that teleportation spell, the same as you. And if Ichirou can teleport out, I don't even know if there would be another way in."

"Oh," Kagome said sadly, dabbing at her eyes again, "So… we're trapped?"

There was silence.

And then there wasn't.

A quiet _ka-chunk_ noise came from the ceiling and then it was like a panel of space opened up. Light streamed in from the outside, and although it wasn't particularly bright, after having been in the darkness for so long, both girls squinted and shielded their eyes.

A head obscured the opening and then someone jumped down.

"Glad I found you two," A cool female voice said, having landed right in front of the two of them.

Shiko opened her eyes wider and then blinked, "Kagura? What the hell are you doing here?"

Kagura's mouth quivered, as though she was trying very hard not to frown in annoyance at that comment and instead was trying to appear as friendly as possible. Well that was strange. "Saving you lot, isn't it obvious?" she replied, plucking the feather hair ornament from her bun.

"Come again?" Kagome asked, clearly confused, "I thought you were… you know… on Naraku's side."

Shiko looked calmer, "What caused this change of heart?"

"Long story," Kagura shrugged casually, although the calmness of it was forced, and showing slightly, "Never really liked his ideals. Much rather be on your side if I had to choose. Although really, I'm here to get my freedom, saving you is just part of the grand plan. Which means that you lot are going to have to help me out if you want to get out of here."

"Deal," Shiko snappily replied, before breaking into an awkward smile that didn't feel right with all the anger inside her, "I assume you need our help breaking free from Naraku?"

Kagura gave her a look, "Of course. I need to get my heart back. For some reason, from the first time I met you, you've always seemed to know exactly what my goal has been- freedom from Naraku. Why is that?"

"Long story?" Shiko offered, "I'll tell you when we're all alive and out of this fucking mess."

"Deal," Kagura returned, before flicking the feather out from between her fingers. The white ornament grew in size until it could easily hold all three of them and hovered gently at perfect height to climb aboard. "Hop on and let's get out of here."

Kagura jumped onto the fan and Shiko clambered on stiffly behind her, and then held out her hand to help Kagome on.

"Wait…" Kagome hesitated, "Shouldn't we… bring Kikyo with us?" Her soft eyes almost look back at the corpse, but stopped just before actually seeing the dead body. She was struggling with the ideals of respect for the dead, with leaving Kikyo's body behind and escaping or taking it with them to give the dead miko a proper funeral.

"I can't waist space on the dead," Kagura said coldly, "If you want me to make two trips then were going to have a tough time getting out of here."

After a moment of hesitation, Kagome sat down beside Shiko and looked down at her hands, trying not to cry.

A gust of wind rose beneath the feather, carrying its three occupants up and through the hole in the ceiling.

As they flew closer, Shiko could see that the 'hole' was caused by removing a thick stone block from the floor, probably designed as some sort of emergency exit if needed. They emerged in a hallway, yellowy light from the sun flittering in through the maze of sliding paper screens around then. If it hadn't been the cesspool of evil, Shiko might have ventured to call the place's ambiance pretty.

Kagura flicked her wrist and the feather shrunk back to normal size, depositing its passengers with a thud on the tatami mat floor. With a hearty kick, Kagura shoved the stone slab back over the opening of the trapdoor.

"N-now what?" Kagome stammered, clutching her bow to her chest tightly and looking all around the group.

Kagura pointed behind Kagome, "That way, take the second right you see, four doors down on your left. That's where the fox brat and the human girl are. If you follow the sounds of chaos, you should find InuYasha and his band of idiots raising all hell outside. Get yourself and the kids out of here, if you see any of those damn insects, shoot 'em before they can see you. Oh, and if you find Kohaku, bring him along as well, he's on your side."

"InuYasha's here?!" Kagome exclaimed, her voice almost gushing with the thought.

"Who the hell else would show up out of nowhere to save your ass?" Kagura said crassly, "Him breaking the shield around this place was what set off that damn alarm."

Kagome nodded, and bowed gratefully to Kagura, "Thank you for everything!"

"Go save Rin for me," Shiko said softly, giving Kagome a light and awkward pat on the shoulder, "And good luck, Kagome."

She bowed to Shiko as well and then turned and ran off in the direction Kagura had indicated, her footsteps echoing after her even after she turned the corner and vanished from their sight.

Kagura fixed Shiko with a hard stare, "You're not so in luck. You still owe me a favor, and I need out of Naraku's service now or I'm dead. Follow me." She turned and set a fast stride in the opposite direction.

"I figured as much," Shiko said, her tone hard.

Shiko hurried after Kagura without a second of hesitation. Helping Kagura was fine with her. The wind witch deserved her freedom from that sick bastard, and it was Shiko's pleasure to help out on her favorite characters. But there was another goal as well, one that made Shiko feel almost as if it was _she _that was using _Kagura_, instead of the other way around.

Naraku might have been the main villain in InuYasha, he might have been the most terrible and vile character in the whole show, but in Shiko's current state of mind, the spider might as well have been small fry. That was not to say that she underestimated him, she was still well aware of the danger he was. She simply had her sights set on larger prey. She was going to kill Ichirou, and Ichirou was pulling Naraku's strings. A chance to kill Naraku was a chance to get to Ichirou. She glared at the back of Kagura's neck as the thought of that damn psychopomp welled up in her mind like a cancer.

An eye for an eye, a life for a life.


	28. Improve is Bloody

S-S: Ack. Another really long delay. You may all bow and thank sakemori, who terrified me into spending the past two days doing nothing but writing this chapter (I was sick and took the days off school). Yeah… school has been tough, and I have neglected all my fanfiction.

InuYasha is the property of Rumiko Takahashi, not little old me.

* * *

><p>Kagura led Shiko quickly through the winding and maze-like halls of the palace, every so often taking a left or right turn. Halls and doors passed Shiko by too quickly for her to keep track of where she was going and pretty soon she found herself unable to retrace her path even if she tried. That thought didn't matter to her all that much, and she found herself instead counting seconds until she got to wherever Kagura was taking them.<p>

The wind witch hadn't spoken at all, and neither had Shiko. Of course, this meant that Shiko hadn't the faintest clue where they were going or what Kagura expected her to do. She knew, of course, that Kagura's ultimate goal was retaking her heart from Naraku, but the specifics of this plan had not been discussed or explained.

Kagura stopped all of a sudden, and flicked open her fan, "Play along!" she whispered harshly.

Shiko frowned and opened her mouth to ask, "Wha-?"

"_Dance of blades_!" Kagura yelled pointing her weapon at Shiko.

A thousand thoughts of betrayal, treachery, deception, all flashed through her mind as she stood stock still, frozen, unfortunately unable to move. She should be moving, she should be doing something, but what? Playing along? Attacking Kagura? What was the woman doing?

In this moment of hesitation, sharp, wickedly curved blades slashed through Shiko. Her blood splattered over the yellow-white tatami mats and over the pale paper walls. Her head spun as pain rushed through her body, making her vision fade to black and fade back in with each desperate pulse through her veins. Each wound was sharp, stinging, clinically precise and utterly unpleasant.

Shiko's legs buckled and she fell to her knees, eyes wide.

"… Ka… gura…?" She gasped, trying to speak around the burning of her body.

Blood ran in thin streams from the long slashes across her arms and legs, the shallower cuts on her torso that ripped her pretty kimono, the single scaring slit that ran diagonally across her face, narrowly missing both eyes. The red color began to pool beneath her body and she fell backwards, her head slamming on the ground.

"Shit," Kagura swore under her breath, kneeling down by Shiko's head, "Don't worry," she said, though her voice revealed that she wasn't following her own advice, "That wasn't enough to kill you, okay? But if you showed up without a mark on you the plan wouldn't work."

Shiko groaned, part pain and part anger. "Damn you…" she mumbled, "You could… have warned… me…"

Kagura grabbed Shiko by the arm, trying to be gentle, "Sorry, hadn't the time," she whispered, sliding Shiko's katana from the girl's waist, "Here, take this," she said, pressing a small but sharp looking dagger into Shiko's obi and folding it in the fabric so that it was hidden.

"If you mess with my sword… I'll make you suffer," Shiko coughed out the empty threat as Kagura tucked her sword into her own belt.

Barely acknowledging the sarcastic warning, Kagura simply nodded and ordered, "Close your eyes. And pretend to be unconscious until it's time."

Shiko frowned, the action quickly turning into a grimace as she reached for the the knife she had just been given for some reason, tugging at the cuts along her arm, "How… will I know when it's time? And what… am I supposed to do?"

"Improvise," Kagura hissed at her, "Now be silent!"

Closing her eyes, Shiko felt quiet. She could feel Kagura's hand grasp the back of her shirt and didn't protest when the older woman began to drag her down the corridor. Peering out from under her eyelashes, she noticed a smear of red trailing behind her. It wasn't enough for Shiko to worry about blood loss or permanent scarring from the injuries she had just received, but it was enough to make her gag at the thought that all that red was her own.

She could hear the quiet thudding of Kagura's footsteps and tried to calm her own breathing and heart rate. This plan that Kagura had wouldn't work if Naraku realized that Shiko wasn't as injured as she seemed.

As much as she hated the part of Kagura's plan that consisted of injuring herself, she had to admit that the woman had done a really good job. Her injuries, while blindingly painful at the beginning, were quickly becoming a manageable sort of pain. The cuts, while menacing in their length and number, were remarkably shallow; unlikely to scar very much or at all and far quicker to heal. It was a very precise use of the blade dance technique, so precise and seemingly useless in battle as anything but an intimidation technique or for faking injuries, that Shiko had to wonder when Kagura had ever developed it.

Kagura dragged her over a bump in the hall that tempted Shiko to throw a sarcastic 'ouch' at her. She settled for picking out a few choice swear words in her mind as her heels ran over the bump.

What did Kagura want her to do? Shiko knew that this was all some big scheme to regain her heart from Naraku, but he was unlikely to return it to Kagura of his own free will. And as much as she knew that Naraku, or at least Ichirou – the damn _bastard_ – wanted to take her hostage or kidnap her for her knowledge of the future, she didn't see Naraku as the type to trade Kagura's heart for her. If anything, Naraku would be likely to simply kill or cripple Kagura and then take the both of them and throw them in one of his remarkably plentiful dungeons. Surely Kagura could predict the ending to that scenario as well. Shiko knew how Naraku worked from the anime, but Kagura actually had to work for the guy and would obviously have a good understanding of him. No, exchanging her for Kagura's heart couldn't be the play that Kagura was going to make. Even knowing that it wouldn't work, Shiko didn't want to think that Kagura would throw her to Naraku like that.

Shiko didn't have any delusions about being Kagura's friend. No matter how much she had respected the wind witch as a watcher of the show and no matter what attempts at solidarity she had made in this world, Kagura honestly just didn't seem to be the sort of person who made friends easily. The older woman was too paranoid, too careful to make friends. Kagura played a difficult and deadly game, keeping up the appearance of loyalty to Naraku while plotting his demise and her freedom behind his back. It only made sense to assume that she would trust rarely and frailly in others. She only worked together with people for brief moments when it suited her needs.

Kagura kept walking.

There were faint sounds of battle coming from somewhere to Shiko's left, she thought. She relaxed somewhat, unlocking the knots in her neck as she realized that there _were_ her allies out there and they _were _coming to help her. She wondered if Kagome and Rin had made it to the fighters outside yet.

Suddenly Kagura came to a stop and Shiko went limp and dead. There was the sound of a door being slid open. Kagura took a few steps inside.

While she couldn't see, Shiko could still hear, and she liked to think that she could picture the surprise on Naraku's face as the demon's voice reverberated throughout the room, "Well Kagura, care to tell me what you are doing here and why you happen to be carrying one of my prisoners." He didn't word it like a question, but like a demand.

With a demon's strength, Kagura tossed Shiko's body across the room.

She rolled across the floor like a rag doll until something heavy was placed on her shoulder, making her come to a stop. There was an increase of pressure on her shoulder that made her want to gasp in pain. She didn't move. If she did, whatever Kagura's plan was would be ruined.

"Those three that you had kept in the cellar were trying to escape," Kagura said blandly, like she was bored by the whole thing, "Kagome and the little girl ran off while this one bought them time."

There was a rustling noise from the other end of the room and Shiko realized that Naraku wasn't the only one here. "Should I fetch those two for you?" a third voice asked, drawling the question.

She knew that voice.

Shiko fumed on the ground, desperate to leap up and tear her sword into that fucker. But she didn't have her sword and she was injured and she had to stick to Kagura's plan. But she wanted to kill that god damn son of a bitch so badly that she was strongly tempted to give up the plan entirely.

"Return them to the northern castle when you find them. I still want Kagome dead, and I'm sure that Rin will make a very valuable chess piece," Naraku casually ordered.

There was another rustle, and then Ichirou replied, "Of course. I'd love to see the fate of dear Shiko, so do keep her safe until I see her again. There are still some questions that she hasn't answered."

_Something_ shifted in the air and Shiko risked peering through her eyelashes to glimpse the rest of the room. Sure enough, Ichirou was nowhere to be seen. At least he was no longer around to test her resolve.

"This human… Shiko…" the pressure on her shoulder increased as Naraku spoke, "How did you subdue her?"

Without the slightest hesitation, her voice perfectly calm and undisturbed, Kagura replied, "Like I said, she decided to play the hero act, stayed behind while the others ran for it. I disarmed her," there was a rustle of clothing that indicated Kagura had just pointed to Shiko's stolen sword that was secured in her belt, "and then attacked her with my wind. She went down after a good hit."

Naraku 'hmm'ed thoughtfully, "I see. You did well to bring her back so swiftly."

With annoying clarity, Shiko realized that the pressure on her shoulder was Naraku's boot. She fumed silently. The bastard was using her as a foot rest!

"She was only human," Kagura said, with her usual superior tone of voice, "I wouldn't have lost to the likes of _her."_

There was a distinct smirk in Naraku's voice as he continued, "She killed a monstrous crow. I assumed she would be harder to take down."

Shiko felt a jolt of ice run through her, cooling her anger. Naraku suspected something was up. He was suspicious of Kagura enough as it was, for she had never been truly honest with him before and he knew that she despised him. _He knew she was lying to him_.

"I suppose…" Kagura began, and there was the distinctive flick of her fan opening, "I will admit that I was harder on her than necessary. But she was in my _way_."

"In your way?" Naraku prompted. His voice was honey and oil, disgustingly slick and so _satisfied_ with himself.

Kagura's fan stilled and Shiko allowed herself to open her eyes the tiniest crack, her face unnoticeable to Naraku as he stood over her. "Yes," Kagura stated, "My real target… was _you_!"

With her yell, she threw her attack viciously towards Naraku, the wind blades slicing through the air.

Though Kagura was all fury and rage, Naraku stood calm and collected, unperturbed by her attack. He removed his boot from Shiko's shoulder and held out his hand.

The wind blades shattered upon the shield that Naraku had constructed around himself. Kagura's attacks were useless on him. They always had been. What was her play?

"You think you can catch me off guard?" Naraku sneered.

Kagura snapped her fan shut and swung it towards him, "_Dance of the dragon!_" she screamed.

The wind keened and roared as the small tornados smashed into Naraku's shield, dissipating before ever becoming effective. Just like her previous attack, this too did nothing more than increase Naraku's ego and Kagura's apparent desperation.

"How foolish of you Kagura," Naraku commented, his shield still up, and Shiko's eyes snapped fully open when she realized that while the shield kept him safe from Kagura, _she was inside the shield as well_.

Kagura snarled at him, "I'll kill you! And then I will have my freedom from you!"

Naraku chuckled and let the shield around him drop, "Your attempts to kill me will fail," he said, stating a fact, his confidence so great, he was so certain of himself and his power that he knew without fail she couldn't win against him. And he was right, Kagura couldn't win against him. But the plan was becoming clear in Shiko's mind and she didn't think that Kagura was playing to win, because Kagura's goal was her freedom, not outright victory.

Something red and pulsating had appeared in his hand and Shiko could hear it beating.

Naraku clenched his hand around the heart and sent Kagura collapsing to the ground with a pained cry. The woman clutched at her chest and began gasping, deep heaving breaths that couldn't change the fact that Naraku was slowly killing her.

"I always knew that you held no loyalty to me," Naraku declared, confident and proud, and suddenly Shiko knew that she could take him by surprise simply because he thought he had already seen through Kagura's ploy. Because he thought that any attack would be one to kill, and Shiko wouldn't bother with that because she knew that she had no hope of killing him. Because he was powerful and thought himself to be immortal and because he thought that Kagura was weak and below him and incapable of shocking him.

Naraku released Kagura's heart for just a moment, letting her breath for a second before clenching it tight again, "You expect me to be surprised when you turn on me, but I always knew that this day would come. You are weak," he chided her, "and you will never beat me."

Shiko knew what Kagura wanted her to do, and she slowly moved her hand to the knife that Kagura had placed in her obi. Calming her breath, she slowly stepped out of her body, allowing her to see exactly where Naraku was.

Her soul stood near to her, and she could already see exactly how she would have to move for this to work.

"This dream, this ideal of freedom that you cling to," Naraku continued, "It's nothing more than one of your pathetic delusions. I created you from my flesh, it would be easy to return you to that state. You walked a fine line Kagura, but now it's time for-"

Shiko palmed the knife and sprang upward, cutting off Naraku's speech and slicing the knife through his wrist.

Naraku's eyes widened as he jerked backwards, already preparing to retaliate, the tendrils of white flesh on his wrist attempting to reattach his severed hand.

It occurred to Shiko, as she moved in almost slow motion, that this might be the only time she had ever seen Naraku truly surprised. He was always so collected, so calm. And that, she supposed, was how she and Kagura had managed to catch him off guard.

Pride cometh before fall.

Shiko grabbed Naraku's hand, the hand that held Kagura's heart and threw it towards the woman.

Ready to catch the precious item, Kagura recovered from her gasping in a moment, snatching the hand out of the air. She pried open Naraku's dead fingers and retrieved the red bloody heart from his grasp. With a grin larger than anything that had previously graced her features, Kagura pressed the heart to her chest.

Like melting, the heart passed through her skin and into the empty cavity, taking its rightful place of residence in Kagura's body.

Naraku's hiss of rage was savage as his wrist turned into a sharp root spike that he stabbed towards Shiko.

She twisted unnaturally at the waist as she fell backwards, but it wasn't enough to avoid the attack entirely, and the root slashed at her shoulder. Had Shiko not left her body, she would have screamed from the pain as she scrambled backwards, trying to avoid Naraku's fury.

"_Dance of the Dragon!_" Kagura cried, forcing Naraku to pull up his shield and giving Shiko the few seconds she needed to leap to her feet and run to Kagura's side.

After the last tornado dissipated, Shiko got a good look at Naraku's face. The demon looked _murderous_. It was remarkably terrifying, the fury that etched lines onto his visage, the snarl that fell from his fanged mouth. He truly had not expected Kagura and Shiko to be working together and he truly had thought that Kagura's first bid for freedom was the only deception she had planned. Naraku worked by manipulating others to the point where he could predict their every action – and now Kagura had figured out how to do the same to him.

Naraku reeled his already twisting and mutating arm back, about to unleash an attack on the two of them that Shiko was already preparing to run from.

"_**Kongosouha**__!_"

* * *

><p>"Second right, four doors down," Kagome muttered to herself as she ran.<p>

Her thoughts were entirely on the thought of Shippo and Rin and getting the two of them out of there and finding InuYasha. The thought of Kikyo and her death was wrapped away in a corner of her mind and she refused to think about it right now. She refused to think about what she would have to say to InuYasha, how she would tell him that the woman he loved was dead. She had to save her friends – that came before anything else.

She skidded to a stop, her shoes not meant for running at high speeds on tatami mats. This was the fourth door. Grabbing the handle, she threw the door open.

"Kagome-san?" a startled voice from inside asked.

Kagome paused, her eyes widening at the boy in front of her, "Kohaku? What-?"

With a startling mix of both clarity and confusion in his eyes, Kohaku shook his head and asked, "Kagome-san, is my sister outside?"

"I don't know," Kagome replied honestly, "But InuYasha's there, so I don't see why Sango wouldn't be with him. Where's Shippo and Rin-chan? I was told that they would be here," she asked, glancing to the second door behind Kohaku, suspecting that perhaps he was the guard and that the two kids were behind him.

Confirming her thoughts, Kohaku nodded and turned to place a small bronze key in the lock of the door, turning it and, with a click, the door slid open.

Kagome hurried inside the second room to see Rin, her arms wrapped around her legs in a ball and Shippo curled up like the fox kit he was by her side.

"Shippo! Rin-chan!" Kagome exclaimed rushing over to them with open arms.

Their faces brightened and Shippo leapt into Kagome's arms, "I knew you would come, I knew it!" he cried happily, his tail flying in Kagome's face and making her breath in fluff. "I knew that you wouldn't just let us get hurt."

Kagome held him tight and tried to hold back her tears, "Of course I came Shippo. I would never leave you."

"Is…" Rin began, looking a bit more hesitant than Shippo, "Is Sesshomaru-sama here?"

"I don't know," Kagome said again, "But I think so. I was just with Shiko a few minutes ago, so she's here. Sesshomaru-san is probably outside with InuYasha and the others."

The smile on Rin's face returned, "I'm going to go find Sesshomaru-sama!" she declared, snapping to her feet and looking expectantly at Kagome, "And Shiko-sama's going to join us, right?"

Doubt flickered across Kagome's mind for a moment before she managed to answer. She didn't know. She didn't know what Shiko and Kagura were doing, and she honestly had no idea what sort of crazy plan the wind witch had come up with. For all she knew, the both of them could get killed doing whatever it was they were doing. She didn't know how long Kagura needed Shiko's assistance for. This plan of hers could take days to complete. "Probably," she said, "She went to help Kagura. I don't know when they'll be back."

"Kagura-san?" Kohaku asked, still standing in the doorway. "Shiko-san is with Kagura-san?"

Kagome nodded, "Yes, it was Kagura who got us out of the… the place where we were kept."

This didn't seem to upset Kohaku, if anything, he looked a little more certain, a little more sure of his actions. "She said that she was going to find a way out… out of… working for Naraku. A way to get her heart back. I guess that's what she need's Shiko-san's help for."

"That was all she told me before I left," Kagome confirmed, "She told me how to get here too. Does that make Kagura… on our side? Really on our side?"

Kohaku frowned, thinking it over slowly, as though he wasn't sure of his own thoughts. It took him a few moments before he nodded and said, "Yes. She said that her plan was to rely on others to take care of Naraku… that she was going to… accept that you all had the same goals. She told me… to do the same. She said that my sister… that my sister didn't care what I had done. That she loved me anyways."

Kagome put the hand that wasn't holding onto Shippo onto Kohaku's shoulder in what she hopped was a comforting manner, "Sango does love you. And all of us, together, are going to defeat Naraku," she stood and turned to fully face him, "Now let's get out of here. And we'll find your sister."

* * *

><p>With an elegant jab of his talons, Sesshomaru removed the disgusting snake demon of its head.<p>

Naraku seemed to have been well prepared for an attack on his castle. There were over a dozen huts on the premises, all filled with hordes of small and relatively worthless demons, and programed to attack everything in sight without hesitation. There was none of Naraku's usual elegance to the method in which the hordes swarmed, but it was an annoyance all the same.

Now that the barrier was down, he could smell Naraku's disgusting stench to the north, and he was sure that InuYasha could as well. Rin was actually moving towards him, which had surprised him at first, but then he could smell InuYasha's human, Kagome, as well as the fox kit and the demon slayer boy with her. It was likely that the four of them had managed to escape and were running in a bid for freedom. In a few moments, they would be here, a thought which somewhat reassured Sesshomaru, although he would never admit to such a thing. Rin was his ward, nothing more, and he should not act as though she was anything more.

More surprising, was Shiko's scent. At first, he had been unable to locate her, as Kagura was a demon and therefore had a stronger scent. What those two were doing together, he had no idea. Perhaps they were working together. Shiko was foolish enough to attempt to befriend the demon, of that there was no doubt, but Kagura had always acted alone till now.

It didn't matter, he decided, putting his fist through the eye of a huge and snarling panther. While he despised humans in general, Shiko seemed to have good self-preservation instincts in a fight. It would hardly become necessary for Sesshomaru to save her.

There was the screech of wind as InuYasha unleased the Tetsusaiga's power on a mass of demons, taking out a quarter of the battlefield easily.

"Where the hell does Naraku get all these bastards?!" InuYasha complained, moving to stab a monster that had been about to attack Miroku, "Seriously, does he just brainwash them all or something?"

Miroku swung his staff up to block a hit and then with the next strike disabled the demon he had been fighting, "No idea!" he replied, unwinding the beads from around his hand, "Sango-san, InuYasha, stand back!"

The two hastily complied, moving to guard Miroku's back as the monk unleased the destructive winds contained in his hand.

The roar was almost painfully loud in Sesshomaru's ears as the monk began to take care of a good chunk of demon trash. The winds dragged in everything that stood in their way, pouring into the cursed mark on Miroku's palm until the demons disappeared.

"Saimyosho!" Sango cried, spotting the insects that had begun to swarm.

The monk grimaced and hastily wrapped the beads back around his wrist, "Damn!" he cursed, grabbing his staff.

InuYasha jumped in front of Miroku and swung the Tetsusaiga down, "_Kaze no Kizu!_"

The blast of power destroyed what remained of the demon and took care of the insects.

Unfortunately, it seemed that the wind tunnel was permanently out of the question for now, as more of the yellow wasps buzzed across the skies. Although the insects themselves had no effect on Sesshomaru, he found them to be quite a nuisance during such fights. The monk's attack was powerful, and valuable when it came to getting rid of large numbers like this. For a moment, Sesshomaru desired the Tokijin again, for no other reason that the blades area-of-effect attack. The thought was fleeting. Relying too heavily on a weapon in a fight was damaging, and Sesshomaru would not allow himself to become overly dependent on a blade that had come from one of Naraku's spawn anyways.

Besides, he had the feeling that Shiko's information would be worth the payment he had made for her life.

Sesshomaru's claws glowed with sickly green light as it formed the familiar shape of his poison whip.

Almost gracefully, he slashed out with the whip, letting the attack lash out around him, slicing every demon in the vicinity to thin ribbons. Perfectly precise, none of the splattered blood so much as touched him. InuYasha was a brawler and fought as such, leaping headfirst into a fight and getting dirty without a second thought. Sesshomaru was very much the opposite. Every attack he made was deliberate, no energy wasted through excessive movement or unneeded power.

He stepped out of the bloody circle he had just created, effortlessly cutting down the demon that tried to bite into him with nothing more than a flick of his wrist.

With another quick slash of the whip, he dismembered the gathering demons around him and then stabbed the one that had been about to attack InuYasha. Not that he had any desire to protect the half-demon, but because he knew that InuYasha would hate his prey being taken from him.

Sure enough, InuYasha glared at Sesshomaru and retorted, "Oi Sesshomaru! I was going to kill that one!"

Sesshomaru ignored him and cut down the nearest two demons that had attempted to get close.

Useless as these demons were, they were good at dying. Sesshomaru barely had to try to kill them, it was more dangerous sport than arduous battle. There was no risk of death, it was simply a stalling tactic on Naraku's part – working a lot better than he would care to admit. Because as useless as these things were, they had numbers and size and took time to kill.

One of the palace doors broke down, and from inside came the slayer boy, Kohaku.

"Sister!" he yelled, running towards Sango, who snapped her head around to face him.

Her expression was one of mixed shock and joy, "Kohaku!" she cried, running towards him and, dropping her weapon, drew him into a hug. "You're alright! You remember me!"

From behind the boy's neck, the fox kit leapt from the boy onto Sango's shoulders, "Yup! Kagome got us all out, even Kohaku!"

"Shippo!" Sango exclaimed with a grin, "You brought my brother back!"

On the other side of the battle, Miroku and InuYasha both turned to look, surprised at Kohaku's appearance and a bit more wary of his change of heart than Sango herself was. On his part, Sesshomaru did not particularly care whether the boy was truly no longer under Naraku's thumb. If he became a problem, Sesshomaru would have no problems killing the boy where he stood, regardless of what InuYasha was willing to do.

"_InuYasha!_" another voice cried out from inside the castle.

It was InuYasha's human girl, Kagome, clutching at her bow and looking towards her love with desperate eyes.

"Kagome!" InuYasha gasped, relieved at the sight of her.

Slicing through the body of a giant spider, Sesshomaru faltered. He turned too, and there, by Kagome's elbow was a second person.

_Rin._

Rin glanced up and saw him, "Sesshomaru-sama!" she called, a grin on her face.

There was a loud crash as a monster centipede brought a section of roof down on the two of them, Kagome pulling Rin out of the way of the falling beams and shooting down the centipede the next moment.

"Kagome!" InuYasha cried, blasting off another wind scar at his enemies, "Just stay there, alright! I'm going after Naraku!"

With that said, he slung the Tetsusaiga over his shoulder and ran through the path of corpses that he had just created, heading towards a different section of the castle, from which came Naraku's stench – as well as the scents of Kagura and Shiko.

Sesshomaru quickly killed the demon in his way and then disengaged his whip, using a burst of speed to get to Rin.

Before he could make it however, there was a flash of white.

A man in a white coat stepped out from the shadows behind the two and placed a hand on both Rin and Kagome's shoulders. A despicable smirk graced his features as he vanished.

Taking both Kagome and Rin with him.

* * *

><p>"<em><strong>Kongosouha<strong>__!_"

Screaming, InuYasha brought down the roof around Naraku, shattering the foul demon's shield and spearing Naraku with a thousand sharp diamond blades.

"_InuYasha_…" Naraku snarled, turning his attention to the half breed that had just made his appearance, "Of course… you just can't keep your nose out of other people's business."

InuYasha landed on the floor, his bare feet making no sound as he touched down. He looked over to Shiko, who was crouched on the floor, bloodied up and clutching a knife with both hands, and to Kagura, who looked more elated than he had ever seen her and holding her fan out in front of her. Going by the way that Kagura was facing _against_ Naraku and not Shiko, InuYasha guessed that it was safe enough to turn his back to the wind witch.

Shiko sighed with relief, "You have _no_ idea how good it is to see you, InuYasha."

"Glad to know I'm wanted," InuYasha replied with his usual snark, pointing the Tetsusaiga at Naraku, "Even better to know that I'm about to kill you, Naraku."

Naraku, punctured though he was, managed to look no less deadly as he glared at InuYasha, "You cannot kill me. No matter how hard you try, I have reached the peak of immortality, and nothing you do can harm me." Strong though his words were, he took a half step backwards, unwilling to keep close to InuYasha.

"Really?" InuYasha snorted, "I remember you running when we faced off in the borderland!"

He swung the Tetsusaiga once again, releasing another blast of diamond against Naraku.

Naraku's body disintegrated into white flesh, his head and shoulders the only places still intact; the rest was riddled with diamond like cheese was riddled with holes.

Not giving Naraku another chance to retaliate, InuYasha followed up with another blast, "_Kongosouha!_"

As the diamond spears flashed through the air, Naraku's shield flickered up around his head and then… what was left of his body vanished.

InuYasha huffed and let his blade fall to his side, "Damn. The coward ran."


End file.
